Financial Aid – Most Impressive | Beyond College Rankings

Financial Aid – Most Impressive

Cost of attendance definitely is and should be one of the most important considerations in choosing a school, and rankings can and should take financial factors seriously. But like all rankings, there is a broad range in subjectivity in terms of what makes financial aid “good.” It really depends on your needs. This ranking I’m calling “most impressive” because it includes average cost after the average aid package, the average debt at graduation, but also the percentage of students who are determined to have need. This ranking awards schools that give more money to more students, making a socioeconomically diverse institution affordable for as many as possible.

1. Berea College
2. San Jose St. University
3. Grinnell College
4. Franklin Olin School of Engineering
5. Harvard University
6. Vassar College
7. University of California, Santa Cruz
8. Princeton University
9. Howard University
10. Amherst College
10. California Institute of Technology
12. Pomona College
13. Agnes Scott College
14. Marlboro College
15. Cornell College
16. Gustavus Adolphus College
17. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
18. Wabash College
19. Hamilton College
20. Yale University
21. Williams College
22. Fisk University
23. Swarthmore College
24. Vanderbilt University
25. Earlham College
26. University of Massachusetts, Lowell
27. Wellesley College
28. Arizona St. University
29. St. Lawrence University
30. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
31. Macalester College
32. Carleton College
32. Hollins University
34. California Polytechnic University, Pomona
35. Barnard College
36. Drew University
37. Stanford University
38. Seattle Pacific University
39. University of California, Berkeley
40. University of Louisville
41. Cooper Union
42. Knox College
43. University of California, Irvine
44. Cornell University
44. Clark University
46. Brigham Young University
47. Centre College
48. Hillsdale College
48. Missouri University of Science and Technology
48. Hampshire College
51. Allegheny College
52. Wesleyan University
53. Hendrix College
53. Willamette University
55. Haverford College
55. Duke University
55. Illinois Institute of Technology
58. Smith College
59. Calvin College
60. University of Nebraska, Lincoln
60. St. Olaf College
60. Pepperdine University
63. Sewanee: University of the South
64. San Diego St. University
65. University of California, San Diego
65. Kalamazoo College
67. Dartmouth College
67. University of Pennsylvania
69. Rhodes College
70. Gettysburg College
71. St. John’s College (New Mexico)
72. Rice University
72. Washington & Lee University
72. Seattle University
75. Luther College

All the data used for this ranking is from the Common Data Set information published by each institution. I used three proxies, all weighted equally, for “Most Impressive Financial Aid.”

1) The average cost of attendance – tuition plus room & board minus the average financial aid package

2) The percentage of students who were determined to have financial need

3) The average indebtedness at graduation

I’ll do more financial aid rankings in the future, but I liked how this pulled in cost factors, but also credited schools where more students need financial assistance.