College affordability is on the front burner in today’s tough economy. The estimated total annual cost of attending a private college can exceed $50,000, and for out-of-state students, the price tag for a year at a public university can surpass $40,000. While “sticker prices” are out of reach for most families, robust financial aid programs (grants, scholarships, loans), available at some schools, can radically improve the economics. The nation's "Best Values in Private Colleges and Universities," according to Kiplinger’s findings, are published Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.

Kiplinger's ratings are based on a combination of “academic quality” (e.g. admissions rate, SAT scores, graduation rate, student/faculty ratio) and “affordability” (i.e. the cost of attendance before and after financial aid).

Caltech took the top spot on Kiplinger's Private University list for 2009, followed by Yale, Princeton, Rice, Duke, Harvard, Dartmouth, MIT, Emory, Stanford, Penn, Brown and Northwestern. Kiplinger also ranked the top 50 values in liberal arts colleges for 2009. Pomona won the top position followed by Swarthmore, Williams, Davidson, Washington & Lee, Amherst, Carleton, Wellesley and Haverford. To view the full private college rankings, see: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/privatecolleges.

Among public schools, for 2009 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill earned first place for in-state residents followed by the University of Florida, the University of Virginia, the University of Georgia and the College of William and Mary. Kiplinger's also ranked public universities for out-of-state students. New York’s SUNY Binghamton won the top position. Rankings for public colleges can be viewed at: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges.