Bates, at $40,000 a year, the ‘best value’ college

LEWISTON – Bates College, where tuition, room and board cost roughly $40,000 a year, has been ranked by The Princeton Review as the nation’s “best value” college.

Bates, which was fifth in last year’s rankings, topped the 81 schools profiled in the 2006 edition of “America’s Best Value Colleges,” which hits the bookstores Tuesday. The Princeton Review said all 81 offer outstanding academics, generous financial aid packages and relatively low costs.

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, N.M., was runner-up, and Brigham Young University of Provo, Utah, ranked third.

The only other Maine school on the list of 81 was College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. Schools listed after the top 10 were in no particular order.

Rounding out the top 10 were Hendrix College, Conway, Ark.; University of California-Los Angeles; New College of Florida, Sarasota; City University of New York-Brooklyn College; City University of New York-Queens College; William Jewell College, Liberty, Mo.; and Hanover College, Hanover, Ind.

The Princeton Review, an education services company with no connection to Princeton University, compiled the list and its book from data obtained from administrators at more than 350 colleges and from surveys of college students.

Bates, a private liberal arts college whose tuition is on a par with its peers and with Ivy League schools, is located in Maine’s second-largest city, with a large Franco-American population and an economy that is moving beyond its former dependence on the textile and shoe industries.

The Princeton Review said its rankings were based on more than 30 factors in four categories: academics, tuition, financial aid and student borrowing.

“Bottom line: The 81 schools that met our criteria for this book are all great college education deals,”‘ said Robert Franek, the company’s vice president for publishing.

The financial aid offered by Bates was a major factor in why it led the rankings, despite its annual charges of just under $40,000, Franek said.

“The average freshman grant that they give out is $20,674,” he said, “and it’s important to note that this is free money – this number does not include student loans.”

Another plus for Bates is that it generally does not reduce its financial aid when students receive outside scholarships, Franek said.

While Bates may not have the richest endowment among schools in its league, it has demonstrated a strong commitment to making itself affordable to students.

The underlying lesson, he said, is that students should not “get scared off by a big sticker price for a school.”

Bates College Dean of Admissions Wylie Mitchell said, “It is always gratifying to be placed at the top of anyone’s top 10 list, especially when it is recognition of the value of a Bates education.”

Franek said the 81 listings in the book are divided about equally between public and private schools. The No. 1 spot last year went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.