Back to NATIONAL RANKINGS

Kiplinger Ranks Gonzaga University 37th Best Value Among Private Universities in Nation February 2009

Washington, D.C. - Kiplinger's Personal Finance has named Gonzaga University the 37th best value among private universities nationwide. The annual private school rankings appear in Kiplinger's February 2009 issue and online at www.kiplinger.com/money/collegevalues.

The Kiplinger 100: Best Values in Private Colleges list ranks the top 50 private universities and the top 50 liberal arts colleges in separate tables (below). The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) ranks first among private universities, followed by Yale, Princeton, Rice, Duke and Harvard universities to round out the top six schools in Gonzaga's classification.

In today's troubled economy, private colleges face shrinking balance sheets and the same exorbitant costs for utilities, construction and staff benefits that have contributed to keep tuition increases outpacing inflation for the past decade. The schools with the biggest endowments are among the hardest hit. Schools with both abundant and modest resources are cutting outlays to keep operations running and financial aid flowing. However, Gonzaga is not cutting expenses and remains committed to maintaining the same high-quality academic programs and generous financial aid it has always offered. Schools with modest endowments - which constitute the vast majority of private colleges and universities - continue to offer a variety of loans, work-study and grants funded by gifts to help offset tuition costs, which are up 5.6 percent at private colleges and universities nationwide from the 2007-08 academic year, according to the College Board.

"Families hit by the economic downturn may feel that private institutions are out of their financial reach," says Janet Bodnar, editor at Kiplinger's. "But they will be surprised by our findings. Most of the top-notch schools on the Kiplinger 100 offer generous financial aid packages. And, for those who earn too much to qualify for need-based aid, many of the colleges on our list offer hefty scholarships to a few outstanding students or smaller merit awards to a bigger pool."

Gonzaga is among those schools with a host of student financial aid opportunities. In fact, 93.4 percent of Gonzaga's students receive some form of financial aid from the University. Also, Gonzaga is assessing the feasibility of launching a major capital campaign that would be predominantly focused on increasing funds for students aid and professorships to help ease some of the strain on the institution's tuition-dependent annual operating budget. This marks the third consecutive year that Gonzaga has been ranked by Kiplinger's as one of the top 50 best values among private universities nationwide.

Gonzaga's high academic quality and affordability, admission selectivity, high freshmen retention rate, low student-faculty ratio and generous financial aid policies all contributed to the University's ranking. Academic quality accounts for two-thirds of the total in Kiplinger's methodology. Kiplinger's started with data on more than 600 private institutions, then added its own reporting. To determine each category, it used the Carnegie classification system, which organizes institutions based on the highest level and number of degrees offered. Other factors in the best value equation include graduation rate (the percentage of freshmen who earn a bachelor's degree within four or five years); total cost; cost after need-based aid; aid from grants; costs after non-need-based aid; and the average debt upon graduation.

To view the complete article, visit www.kiplinger.com/money/collegevalues. Rankings, methodology and other specifics are available at www.kiplinger.com/tools/priatecolleges.

For more information about the rankings, please contact Laura Stevens at (202) 862-4372.

Following are The Kiplinger 100 Rankings

Private Universities (1-50)

Private Universities (1-50)
1. Cal. Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.	26. Lehigh, Bethlehem, Pa.
2. Yale, New Haven, Conn.	27. University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
3. Princeton, Princeton, N.J.	28. Bentley, Waltham, Mass.
4. Rice, Houston, Texas	29. Elon University, Elon, N.C.
5. Duke, Durham, N.C.	30. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.
6. Harvard, Cambridge, Mass.	31. Providence College, Providence, R.I.
7. Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.	32. Villanova University, Villanova, Pa.
8. MIT, Cambridge, Mass.	33. University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
9. Emory, Atlanta, Ga.	34. Clark, Worcester, Mass.
10. Stanford, Stanford, Calif.	35. Pepperdine, Malibu, Calif.
11. University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pa.	36. Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, Ohio
12. Brown, Providence, R.I.	37. Gonzaga University, Spokane, Wash.
13. Northwestern, Evanston, Ill.	38. University of Miami, Coral Gables, Flor.
14. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind.	39. Whitworth University, Spokane, Wash.
15. Vanderbilt, Nashville, Tenn.	40. Baylor, Waco, Texas
16. Brandeis, Waltham, Mass.	41. Xavier, Cincinnati, Ohio
17. University of Richmond, Richmond, Va.	42. Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pa.
18. Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Md.	43. Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, Calif.
19. Tufts, Medford, Maine	44. Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis.
20. Wake Forest, Winston-Salem, N.C.	45. New York University, Syracuse, N.Y.
21. Georgetown, Washington, D.C.	46. Boston University, Boston, Mass.
22. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass.	47. Loyola College, Baltimore, Md.
23. Trinity, San Antonio, Texas	48. Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.
24. Cornell, Ithaca, N.Y.	49. Marist College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
25. Columbia, New York, N.Y.	50. Emerson College, Boston, Mass.

Liberal Arts Colleges (1-50)
1. Pomona College, Claremont, Calif.	26. Colby College, Waterville, Maine
2. Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pa.	27. Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
3. Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.	28. Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.
4. Davidson College,Davidson, N.C.	29. Centre College, Danville, Ky.
5. Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Va.	30. Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.
6. Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.	31. Denison University, Granville, Ohio
7. Carleton College, Northfield, Minn.	32. Occidental College, Los Angeles, Calif.
8. Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.	33. Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, Calif.
9. Haverford College, Haverford, Pa.	34. Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Ill.
10. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.	35. Scripps College, Claremont, Calif.
11. Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio	36. Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
12. Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, Calif.	37. St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
13. College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass.	38. DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind.
14. Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa	39. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
15. Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill.	40. Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.
16. Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.	41. Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa.
17. Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine	42. Wofford College, Spartanburg, S.C.
18. Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.	43. Knox College, Galesburg, Ill.
19. Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colo.	44. Reed College, Portland, Ore.
20. Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn.	45. Furman University, Greenville, S.C.
21. Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y.	46. Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
22. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.	47. Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa.
23. Bates College, Lewiston, Maine	48. Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Mich.
24. Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y.	49. Sewanee: University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.
25. Barnard College, New York, N.Y.	50. Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Mich.

Kiplinger was founded in 1920 by W.M. Kiplinger and developed one of the nation's first successful newsletters, "The Kiplinger Letter," which is the longest continually published newsletter in the United States. Kiplinger also created the nation's first finance magazine. Kiplinger editors are dedicated to delivering sound, unbiased advice for American families and businesses in clear, concise language.