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Best Value Colleges for 2010 and how they were chosen
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 TOP 20 'VALUE' PICKS

PUBLIC

1. University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
2. City University of New York - Hunter College (New York, N.Y.)
3. New College of Florida (Sarasota)
4. Florida State University (Tallahassee)
5. University of Colorado-Boulder
6. State University of New York-Binghamton
7. University of Georgia (Athens)
8. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg)
9. Texas A&M University (College Station)
10. University of Oklahoma (Norman)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2009/01/08/college-swarthmorex-square.jpgPRIVATE

1. Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pa.)
2. Harvard College (Cambridge, Mass.)
3. Wesleyan College (Macon, Ga.)
4. Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.)
5. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
6. Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.)
7. Rice University (Houston, Texas)
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.)
9. Amherst College (Amherst, Mass.)
10. Wellesley College (Wellesley, Mass.)

Source: The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review's 100 "Best Value Colleges" list for 2010 is based on data compiled and analyzed by The Princeton Review, the education services and test-prep company known for its annual college listings.

The analysis uses the most recently reported data from each institution for its 2009-10 academic year. The top 10 public and private "Best Values" are ranked; the rest are listed alphabetically.

FULL STORY: Can getting a degree be affordable?

The Princeton Review selected the schools based on surveys of administrators and students at more than 650 public and private college and university campuses.

Overall selection criteria included more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs and financial aid. Academic ratings were based on student surveys about such issues as professors' accessibility and class sizes, as well as institutional reports about student-faculty ratios and percent of classes taught by teaching assistants.

The financial aid rating is based on a combination of school-reported data and student surveys. Tuition, room and board, and required fees, as well as book costs and other factors, are included in the financial measurement.

READERS: Did your college — or a college you considered — make the list? Do you think it should or shouldn't have?

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