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Kiplinger Names Occidental a "Best Value" -- Again
Based on measures of academic quality and affordability, Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine has named Occidental College one of the country's 50 best values among liberal arts colleges for the fourth year in a row. Occidental was ranked No. 30, one of just eight western colleges ranked among the top 50.
Some 79 percent of Occidental students receive some form of financial aid, which last year averaged $31,883 per student. Occidental also enrolls more Pell Grant recipients (24 percent) than most other nationally ranked liberal arts colleges. Last year, 19 percent of Occidental students were the first in their family to attend college.
Kiplinger's used 12 factors when ranking "best value" schools, including admission rate, SAT or ACT high scores, ratio of students to faculty members, graduation rates, total annual cost, student cost after need-based aid, percentage of aid from grants, and average debt at graduation. The magazine based its analysis on data of more than 600 private institutions.
Occidental has been named one of the country's best colleges in the latest editions of several major college guides, including U.S. News & World Report, Princeton Review, Fiske, The Insider's Guide, Forbes and Washington Monthly.
High school counselors polled by U.S. News ranked Occidental No. 20 among national liberal arts colleges, while a similar poll of counselors placed Occidental's on Parade Magazine's "College A-List." Forbes ranked Occidental No. 9 on its list of "Colleges That Will Make You Rich"; taking a different approach, Washington Monthly ranked Oxy No. 17 on its best colleges list for its service orientation.