University Times

Pitt’s Bradford and Pittsburgh campuses are the only Pennsylvania institutions to be named “Best Value” public schools of higher education by The Princeton Review.

The best value schools appear in The Princeton Review’s “The Best Value Colleges: 2012 Edition,” which profiles 75 public and 75 private colleges and universities.

The Princeton Review selected its “Best Value Colleges” based on institutional data and student opinion surveys collected from 650 colleges and universities the company regards as the nation’s academically best undergraduate institutions.

According to The Princeton Review, the selection process included an analysis of more than 30 data points broadly covering academics, cost and financial aid.

Data on academics came from fall 2010 through fall 2011 surveys of school administrators. Academic factors included the quality of students the schools attract as measured by admissions credentials, as well as how students rated their academic experiences.

Cost and financial aid data came from fall 2011 surveys of school administrators. Cost of attendance factors included tuition, room and board and required fees. Financial aid factors included the average gift aid (grants and scholarships) awarded to students; the percentage of graduating students who took out loans to pay for school, and the average debt of those students.

Data from students attending the schools over these years included their assessments of their professors and their satisfaction with their financial aid awards.

Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s senior vice president/publisher and lead author of the best value list, said, “We commend all of the extraordinary colleges on our 2012 Best Value Colleges list for all they are doing to keep costs down and/or offer generous aid to applicants with financial need — all while maintaining excellent academic programs.”

The Best Value Colleges list and information about the schools are also posted at USA TODAY.com (http://bestvaluecolleges.usatoday.com), which has been The Princeton Review’s online publishing partner for this project since 2009. The school profiles also appear on The Princeton Review’s web site, at www.princetonreview.com/best-value-colleges.aspx.

The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University.

—Peter Hart