Texas State named among America’s Best Value Colleges

Date of Release: 03/28/2006

SAN MARCOS—Texas State University-San Marcos has been named by the Princeton Review as one of America’s Best Value Colleges for 2007.

The list ranks the top 150 public and private institutions nation-wide, placing Texas State in elite company. Texas State joins just three other Texas universities on the list: Rice University in Houston, Texas A&M University in College Station and the University of Texas in Austin.

The Princeton Review created its annual guidebook, America’s Best Value Colleges, in 2004 to help families derive the most value out of their higher education dollar. Based on data The Princeton Review obtained from administrators at 646 colleges and surveys it conducted of students attending them, the new 2007 edition recommends 150 colleges offering excellent academics, generous financial aid packages and relatively low costs. It has three-page profiles on the colleges, advice on getting into the schools and getting financial aid from them, and ranking lists naming the book’s “Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges” (New College of Florida in Sarasota is no. 1) and “Top 10 Best Value Private Colleges” (Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah) is no. 1). Of Texas State, the guide says in part:

The only university in the state of Texas that can claim a president of the United States as an alumnus is Texas State University-San Marcos. We wonder if President Lyndon Johnson would still recognize his alma mater, though. What was once Southwest Texas State Teachers College has grown rather dramatically into a vast multipurpose university.

“We use over 30 factors to rate the colleges in four categories: Academics, Tuition GPA (sticker price minus average amount students receive in gift aid scholarships and grants), Financial Aid (how well colleges meet students' financial need), and Student Borrowing,” said Robert Franek, VP-Publishing, The Princeton Review. “The 150 schools that met our criteria for this edition include 103 public and 47 private colleges in 40 states. They range from large state universities to small, liberal arts colleges, and include little-known gems, specialty schools, and some colleges that are tuition-free.”

America’s Best Value Colleges also includes general advice on applying to colleges, getting in to them, and finding funding for them. Its first 60 pages discuss: factors to consider when choosing a college; “Paying for College 101” (a crash course on applying for financial aid), and "What Colleges Want" (an insider look at how admission officers evaluate applicants). The book is one of over 200 books developed by The Princeton Review and published by Random House. The line also includes Paying for College Without Going Broke, Best 361 Colleges and several additional college guides, plus guides to college admission and placement exams, grad schools and grad school admission tests, and books on careers.