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Kiplinger's Names Occidental "Best Value"
Based on measures of academic quality and affordability, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine once again has named Occidental College one of the country’s 50 best values in liberal arts colleges.
Occidental was ranked No. 32, one of just seven western colleges ranked among the top 50. This is the third year Occidental has appeared on Kiplinger’s list.
In January, SmartMoney magazine named Occidental one of the country’s top liberal arts colleges as measured by the return on an investment in higher education. Occidental also has been listed as a U.S. News & World Report “best value” school for the past six years.
“More than 75 percent of Occidental students receive some form of financial aid, and we enroll more Pell Grant recipients than most other nationally ranked liberal arts colleges,” said Bill Tingley, vice president for admission and financial aid. “It’s important to get the word out to talented students from all backgrounds that a high quality education at a private college is within their reach.”
Starting with a pool of more than 600 private institutions, Kiplinger’s combined data from Peterson’s Undergraduate Database with its own reporting to create separate rankings for universities and colleges. The ranking took into account admission rates, SAT or ACT test scores, student-faculty ratios, graduation rates, total costs, costs after need-based aid, aid from grants, cost after non-need-based aid, and average debt at graduation.
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine has been providing down-to-earth advice on money management and achieving financial security since 1947.