POTSDAM – Clarkson University is one of the nation's best colleges for students seeking a great education with excellent career preparation and at a relatively affordable price, according to The Princeton Review®.

The education services company named Clarkson as one of its Best Value Colleges for 2024 on June 20. The full list of The Princeton Review’s Best Value Colleges for 2024 and the project’s seven categories of ranking lists, as well as the company’s profiles of the schools, is accessible for free with registration at https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-value-colleges/.

The Princeton Review chose 209 schools for the 2024 list based on data from its surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges in 2023-24. 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 of the schools about their starting and mid-career salaries and job satisfaction.  

In all, The Princeton Review crunched more than 40 data points to tally ROI (Return on Investment) ratings of the colleges that were the basis for the Best Value Colleges school selections.

"The schools we chose as our Best Value Colleges for 2024 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 gave Clarkson an ROI rating score of 90/99 In its profile of Clarkson, the company’s editors praise the school for its "high return on investment and job placement, and the extensive alumni network," and quote from Clarkson students they surveyed who described the college as “a place that offers students a chance to create their own companies and gives students hands-on skills and real-world experience that will immediately help in the workforce,”

The Princeton Review does not rank the Best Value Colleges hierarchically on a single list, from 1 to 209.

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 Colleges, published in August.

Clarkson is also ranked in the Best Northeast Colleges, and in the publication’s Best 389 Colleges.