Top public and private colleges named in seven categories based on
academics, affordability, and career prospects for graduates.
•#1 Public Best Value College Overall: Georgia Tech
•#1 Private Best Value College Overall: Princeton
NEW YORK, Sept. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Princeton Review®—known for its education services and school rankings in dozens of categories — today posted its Best Value Colleges for 2027 report.
Based primarily on three criteria: academics, affordability, and career prospects for graduates, the report is the company's 22nd annual designation of colleges it deems a Best Value. The report released today names 209 schools as Best Value Colleges for 2027: 67 are public institutions, and 142 are private institutions. Nine are tuition-free.
More than 40 data points were factored into the school selections. They were drawn from The Princeton Review's surveys of administrators at more than 650 institutions in 2025–2026 as well its surveys of students attending the schools and surveys of alumni of the institutions. (Information about the project methodology and criteria for the school selections follows.)
The Best Value Colleges report has seven categories of ranking lists. The main category, Best Value Colleges Overall, names 50 public and 50 private institutions. The #1 Public Best Value College is Georgia Institute of Technology—a three-peat. It has been #1 on this list for three consecutive years. The #1 Private Best Value College is Princeton University for the second consecutive year.
The six other ranking lists name the top 20 public and top 20 private institutions in categories for distinctions from financial aid to career placement.
The Princeton Review's Seven Best Value Colleges Lists and the #1 Public and Private Colleges on them for 2027 are:
- Best Value Colleges Overall
- #1 Public: Georgia Institute of Technology
- #1 Private: Princeton University (NJ)
- Best Value Colleges for Financial Aid
- #1 Public: University of Virginia
- #1 Private: Williams College (MA)
- Best Value Colleges for Career Placement
- #1 Public: Georgia Institute of Technology
- #1 Private: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Best Value Colleges for Internships
- #1 Public: Clemson University (SC)
- #1 Private: Northeastern University (MA)
- Best Value Colleges for Alumni Networks
- #1 Public: University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
- #1 Private: Claremont McKenna College (CA)
- Best Value Colleges for Making an Impact
- #1 Public: William & Mary (VA)
- #1 Private: Pitzer College (CA)
- Best Value Colleges for Students with No Demonstrated Need
- #1 Public: Georgia Institute of Technology
- #1 Private: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"We highly recommend the schools on our Best Value Colleges list for 2027," said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief of The Princeton Review. "In our opinion, they are truly the most exceptional in the nation at delivering outstanding academics, affordable cost, and great career foundations. We salute them for all they do to help students with need afford to attend them via comparatively low sticker prices and/or extraordinarily generous financial aid—all while providing an amazing college experience that's worth every penny."
On a related subject, Frank cited findings of the company's College Hopes & Worries 2026 Survey, a project that annually reports on the perspectives of parents and students navigating the college application experience. "Among the college applicants and parents we surveyed this February, concerns about paying for college loomed large," he noted. "Nine out of 10 ("93%) of our nearly 10,000 respondents said financial aid would be necessary to pay for college. Of that cohort, 81% gauged their level of need as 'Very' or 'Extremely' necessary."
For prospective applicants to the Best Value Colleges for 2027, Franek noted some encouraging statistics with respect to prospects for financial aid and admission:
- Among the top 50 Public Best Value Colleges Overall, the average grant to students with need was $17,986.
- Among the top 50 Private Best Value Colleges Overall, the average grant to students with need was $64,261.
- Among the Best Value Colleges Overall, 71 of the schools admitted 50% or more of their applicants for 2026.
Franek shares fascinating facts about the Best Value Colleges for 2027 and the top ranking schools on the lists in a video on the company's YouTube channel.
About the Best Value Colleges Project
To curate its Best Value Colleges for 2027 report, The Princeton Review surveyed administrators at more than 650 colleges from fall 2025 through spring 2026. The survey requested information on the school's academics, cost/financial aid, and career services, as well as student debt and graduation rates. The company also factored in data from its surveys of students attending the colleges (a practice that has informed nearly all of The Princeton Review school rankings since 1992), and school alumni career and salary statistics from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
In all, more than 40 data points were weighted to tally ROI (Return on Investment) ratings for the schools The ROI ratings were the primary basis for the company's selection of 209 schools as Best Value Colleges for 2027. Seven categories of ranking lists are also annually tallied for this project, each one naming the top public and top private schools in a specific category. (The Princeton Review does not rank its Best Value Colleges hierarchically on a single list.) Information on the surveys, the criteria for the ROI ratings, the methodology for the school selections, and the basis for each of the seven ranking lists is posted at https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-value-colleges/methodology.
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school–bound students as well as working professionals achieve their education and career goals through its many education services and products. These include online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors; online resources; a line of more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House; and dozens of categories of school rankings. Founded in 1981, the company is now in its 45th year. The company's Tutor.com brand, now in its 25th year, is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 29 million tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review, headquartered in New York, NY, is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com. Follow the company on Facebook (@ThePrincetonReviewSAT), Instagram (@theprincetonreview), LinkedIn (the-princeton-review), YouTube (@ThePrincetonReview), and TikTok (@princeton.review). Subscribe to The Princeton Review's twice-weekly newsletter, Brick & Mortarboard, here.
NOTE TO EDITORS: The complete list of Best Value Colleges for 2027 is posted at https://www.princetonreview.com/press/best-value-colleges/reporter-resources in two formats. One is alphabetical by school name. The other is alphabetical by location (state/city/school). Each indicates if the schools made any of the project's seven ranking lists, and if so, their ranks on the lists. Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's Editor-in-Chief, is available for interviews on this project as well as the company's many other college rankings and its annual College Hopes & Worries Survey.
SOURCE The Princeton Review
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