Tufts Is Named Top Value for Undergraduates

Tufts has been ranked one of the nation’s top 50 best-value colleges for return on investment, based on how much graduates earn in the 20 years following graduation.

Value Colleges, a firm that researches and ranks accredited institutions to determine the balance between quality education and cost, placed Tufts at number 36 among all accredited four-year, degree-granting public and private American colleges and universities with more than 1,000 students.

Value Colleges weighed the cost of attendance against expected earnings of graduates over 20 years. They factored in the graduation rate and average debt at graduation as well.

Tufts also has been named a top-value college by SmartAsset, a New York financial advice company, for providing an excellent undergraduate education and career prospects at an affordable price. Tufts was ranked number three out of 44 schools evaluated in Massachusetts and number 17 out of 878 schools nationwide.

SmartAsset rates schools based on tuition, student living costs and the amount of scholarships and grants available. It then factors in the school’s retention rate and the average starting salary of its graduates. They reported the Tufts undergraduate retention rate as 96 percent and the average starting salary of its graduates as $48,800.

Also among the SmartAsset top five best-value colleges in Massachusetts are MIT, Amherst College, Boston College and College of the Holy Cross. This is the first year the company has ranked colleges for their value.

These latest rankings follow Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine rating in January of the 100 best college values. It placed Tufts 54th out of the 1,200 U.S. institutions that Kiplinger’s researched.