Pitt-Bradford Named One of the 150 “Best Value Colleges” by The Princeton Review

BRADFORD, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford has been named one of the 150 “Best Value Colleges” in America by The Princeton Review.

Pitt-Bradford is one of only eight Pennsylvania colleges and one of only five public colleges with fewer than 2,000 students included on the list. Also, it was one of 56 colleges that are new to the list.

Dr. Livingston Alexander, president at Pitt-Bradford, said he wasn’t overly surprised by the selection of Pitt-Bradford as a “best value college.”

“This new recognition by The Princeton Review substantiates what many have said for years about Pitt-Bradford — that we provide the highest quality education available in our region at an affordable price,” he said. “Most students who attend Pitt-Bradford qualify for generous merit awards and donor scholarships that bring the cost of attendance to a manageable level.”

The “Best Value Colleges” project was launched in 2004 by The Princeton Review to identify America’s top undergraduate schools offering excellent academics, generous financial aid, and/or relatively low cost of attendance.

Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s senior VP/publisher and lead author of its “Best Values Colleges” book, said, “We recommend these extraordinary colleges as our ‘best buys’ for 2012 and salute them for all they are doing to keep costs down and/or offer generous aid to applicants with financial need.”

More than 90 percent of students at Pitt-Bradford receive some form of financial aid. In 2010-11, the average financial aid award was $16,490 for in-state students and $19,250 for out-of-state students.

Franek added, “We appreciate the deep concerns families have about affording college. Among the 12,000 teen and parent respondents to our 2011 ‘College Hopes and Worries Survey,’ 86 percent reported financial aid would be ‘very necessary’ for them to pay for college.”

The Princeton Review chose its “Best Value” schools based on analyses of data the company collected from an initial list of 650 institutions it identified as having excellent academics.

More than 30 data points were assessed across three primary areas: academics, cost of attendance and financial aid. Cost and financial aid data came from the company’s Fall 2011 surveys of school administrators.

Data on academics came from its Fall 2010-Fall 2011 surveys of school administrators. The Princeton Review also factored in data from surveys of students attending the schools who shared assessments of their professors and their satisfaction with their financial aid awards.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Pittsburgh campus was also included on the list.