Bang for your buck
Clark placed on Kiplinger’s Best Value list for private universities
by Charlie Romanow
Scarlet Staff
Clark has recently been named as one of the best value universities among private schools. It is no surprise that Clark is on this list, as it has consistently been named as one of the best value schools for years. The list was made by Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine.
Image courtesy of clarku.edu
100 schools made it to the list, with Clark being #28, ahead of such prestigious institutions as Boston University, George Washington University, Syracuse University, New York University, and Carnegie Mellon University. Clark was also ahead of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which is the only other Worcester area school to appear on the list. There is also another list of the 100 best value liberal arts schools. Princeton University was named as the best value university, while Pomona College was named as the best value liberal arts college. Educational value is very important in the current economic climate, as the price of the school is becoming more and more of a priority for prospective students.
This year’s rankings were calculated by measuring each schools cost and financial aid, competitiveness, academic support, graduation rate, and student indebtedness at graduation. Cost, financial aid, and competiveness were the most heavily weighted, consisting of a total of 56.25% present the school’s value. 56.25% of the factors are based on the quality of the academics of the school, while the remaining 43.75% is based on the various financial factors of the school. Whether of each school’s score. While the tuition of a school is a factor, financial aid is also very important. As tuition among colleges has risen, the amount of financial aid that has been given has also risen. Kiplinger altered their formula for this year’s ranking so that they could more accurately the student’s graduate in 4, 5, or 6 years has become more of a factor in the ranking as graduating a year late means not only staying in school for another year, but also paying for an extra year. The student to faculty ratio is also very important, as schools must maintain a focus individualization in addition to providing a strong education. Clark has 10 students per faculty member, which is fairly low compared to the rest of the schools on the list. Something else that stood out was Clark’s high freshmen retention rate of 90%. Kiplinger cited that retention rate was a significant factor in their rankings as it “is an important indicator of how happy students are with their education and how well the college supports them on their path to a degree.”
While the total cost for a year at Clark is approximately $41,250 (including tuition, room and board, book expenses and fees), this is significantly lower after financial aid is factored in. The average financial aid package is $28,165 with a majority of students receiving some sort of aid, whether it’s through grants, loans, need-based aid, or non-need-based aid. So that education, valued at $41,250 per year, is commonly cut in half or more when it comes time to pay for it. The average debt at graduation for a Clark student is $24,000 which is by no means cheap, but still very minute when considering that it’s only 58% of the cost for just one year.
Paying for a college education can be a very stressful thing for a young adult to do, but it’s nice to know that students graduating from Clark don’t have much trouble with that, especially considering the value of the education that we receive. The money that we are spending on each class may seem like a lot now, but it is an investment in our future.
