Three college guides rate University of Richmond as a best buy among American colleges and universities
January 8, 2009
Special reports by two magazines and a national newspaper on newsstands now have named University of Richmond as a best value in the nation for educational quality and commitment to affordability.
USA Today (in partnership with college guide publisher The Princeton Review), Kiplinger's Personal Finance and SmartMoney all have named Richmond to lists helping college-bound students and parents choose colleges worth the cost in difficult economic times.
"Of all the positive attention the University of Richmond receives, recognition of our affordability is especially welcome," said President Edward L. Ayers. "We are eager for students and their families to discover what a great value we offer, particularly considering our small class size, close interaction with faculty, and personal attention to students."
The USA Today-Princeton Review article (Jan. 8) included the University of Richmond on its list of 100 "best value" colleges based on 30 statistical criteria of academics, costs and financial aid. To identify "best value," it also utilized surveys of administrators and students at more than 650 public and private college campuses about professors' accessibility, class sizes, student-faculty ratios and percent of classes taught by teaching assistants.
Kiplinger's Personal Finance (Feb.2009) ranked University of Richmond No. 17 on its list of top 50 private universities in the country, which the magazine called "schools that deliver an affordable, high-quality education." Quality measures included admission rate, student/faculty ratio, graduation rate, and standardized test scores of first-year students. Actual costs of attendance after need-based and non-need-based aid, as well as average debt at graduation, were among financial factors. (A separate list in the same article ranked the top 50 private liberal arts colleges.)
SmartMoney's (Jan. 2009) list of "colleges that pay off" quantified the long-term value of a college education, relating costs to graduates' earning power of both public and private institutions. Richmond ranked No. 22 overall and No. 2 on a breakout list of "Top Liberal Arts Schools."
Richmond remains among a small number of American colleges and universities adhering to a truly need-blind admission policy while also meeting 100 percent of each admitted student's demonstrated financial need. It also caps self-help—that is, need-based loans and work-study aid—at $4,000 a year.
Richmond has been named to The Princeton Review's guidebook, "The Best 368 Colleges," every year since it was first published in 1992, and it annually has made Kiplinger's best values list. U.S. News & World Report ranks Richmond in the top tier of its "Best Liberal Arts Colleges," with special mention for high academic quality relative to price paid, innovative and promising change, and outstanding academic quality.