Kalamazoo College is one of the nation’s best colleges for students seeking a great education with excellent career preparation at a relatively affordable price, according to the Princeton Review.
The education services company Tuesday named K as one of its Best Value Colleges for 2023 and ranked the College No. 16 among the Top 20 Private Colleges for Making an Impact. That ranking is up two spots from No. 18 last year.
“It’s not surprising that Kalamazoo College continues to receive these honors from the Princeton Review,” Dean of Admission Suzanne Lepley said. “The K-Plan—our unique approach to the liberal arts and sciences—provides a broad-based education, as well as the communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills students will need as professionals, continuing students and citizens. A K education empowers their outcomes as they help build a better world.”
The Princeton Review chose 209 schools for the 2023 list based on data from its surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges in 2022-23. Topics covered everything from academics, cost and financial aid to graduation rates and student debt. The company also factored in data from its surveys of students attending the schools as well as data from PayScale.com’s surveys of alumni about their starting and mid-career salaries and job satisfaction.
In all, the Princeton Review crunched more than 40 data points to tally return-on-investment ratings of the colleges that were Best Value Colleges school selections.
While the Princeton Review does not rank the Best Value Colleges hierarchically from 1 to 209, Kalamazoo College is one of just four Michigan institutions, private or public, to be honored this year. It’s also the only private institution in the state recognized as a top place where students can make an impact.
“The schools we chose as our Best Value Colleges for 2023 are a select group: they comprise only about 8% of the nation’s four-year undergraduate institutions,” said Rob Franek, editor-in-chief of the Princeton Review. “We commend their administrators, faculties, staff and alumni for all they are doing to educate their students and guide them to success in their careers. These colleges are also exceptional for the generous amount of financial aid they award to students with need and/or for their comparatively low cost of attendance.”
The Princeton Review is also known for its other college rankings in dozens of categories, many of which are reported in its annual book, The Best 388 Colleges, published in August, which again included K in 2023.