BEST COLLEGES - RANKINGS - STANFORD BEST VALUE

Every year there are several rankings of "best" colleges, each list using its own distinct set of variables to evaluate, analyze, measure, and rank.  US News and World Report seems usually to get the most press when its list is released, though it also gets consistently criticized by scholars and journalists alike for its "flawed" criteria.

Many in the college admissions world choose to focus on rankings generated by other sources, like Forbes or Money Magazine.  The theme for Money Magazine's rankings, for example, is, simply speaking, "best value".

Money Magazine has just released its rankings for 2015-16.  They use a variety of measures - such as educational quality, affordability, alumni earnings, tuition increases, and length of time to graduation -  to rank colleges for "best value for your tuition dollar".  Here are the top five:

1. Stanford
2. Babson
3. MIT
4. Princeton
5. Cal Tech

For a look at the full list of rankings,  click here