The most affordable colleges for 2024: Princeton Review names 5 schools in New Jersey

June 24, 2024

The Princeton Review, an education services company known for its annual school rankings, has released its 20th annual list of Best Value Colleges for 2024.

The list also recognizes the best private and public schools in seven ranking categories, such as overall score, financial aid, career placement, internships, alumni networks, making an impact, and students without demonstrated need.

These schools were selected based on data from over 650 administrator and student surveys, as well as PayScale.com alumni career and salary statistics between fall 2023 and spring 2024.

According to the report, the information was compared with over 40 data points, including academic performance, costs, financial aid, debt, graduation rates and career/salary information.

Of the 209 schools on the best value list, five are from New Jersey.

“We highly recommend the schools that made our list of Best Value Colleges for 2024,” said Rob Franek, editor in chief of The Princeton Review, in a press release.

“They have three compelling things in common. All offer excellent academic performance. All support their students with outstanding career services. All demonstrate impressive commitment to affordability through extremely generous financial aid for students in need and/or a comparatively low list price. Plus, there’s good news for students considering these schools: 42% of colleges admit 50% or more of their applicants.”

The most affordable colleges for 2024

This list is not ordered, but has three unusual similarities:

The College of New Jersey
Madison University
Stevens Institute of Technology
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Princeton University

Three colleges from New Jersey also made it into the rankings in the seven categories:

Princeton University ranks #2 among the top 50 colleges with the best value (private schools) and #4 among the top 20 best career placements (private schools).
Stevens Institute of Technology ranks 12th among the top 20 best career placement agencies (private schools)
New Jersey Institute of Technology ranks 23rd among the top 50 colleges with the best value for money (public schools).