The Best Colleges - According to Kiplinger

Are rankings of colleges useful? It all depends on the criteria.
Kiplinger, the well-respected financial advising company, analyzed over 600 institutions to determine THE BEST VALUES, using combined measurements of quality of education and affordability.

The tops in each category, according to Kipling, are:

Liberal Arts:
Swarthmore, Pomona, Williams, Washington & Lee, Davidson, Bowdoin, Claremont McKenna, Amherst, Hamilton, Vassar, Carleton, Haverford, Wellesley, Wesleyan

Private Universities:
Princeton, Yale, CalTec, Rice, Duke University, Harvard, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Stanford, Wash U, Richmond, Emory

Public Universities:
North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, William and Mary, SUNY Binghamton, Georgia, Washington, Maryland, SUNY Geneseo, North Carolina State, UCSD

For more information about the criteria and college lists, click this link:
http://www.kiplinger.com/reports/best-college-values/