Two New Jersey institutes make list

For some high school students, finding the right college to attend can be daunting.

Parents and graduating seniors are seeking which college will be the best for their money and which college will have the best overall performance.

Money, the personal finance website and SoFi, a digital financial service, teamed up to release the 10th edition of the 2024’s Best Colleges list that can provide some assistance.

The yearly list used a unique rating system that analyzes flagship colleges that have above-average graduation rates under three key factors quality, affordability and future earnings against its predicted performance based on its student body.

These data points are important factors like Money’s unique calculation of the net price of a degree, average borrowing rates, median earnings and four “value add” calculations measuring a school’s actual performance.

This years listing includes an analysis of 745 school with a star rating system that is based on the philosophy that there is a variety of outstanding, high-value colleges across the country, according to the press release.

Out 745 schools, 54 received a five-star rating and two are from New Jersey.

New Jersey Institute of Technology and Princeton University both received a five-star rating.

“We hope students and parents use our list to discover new colleges that may be worth their attention, and perhaps more importantly, we want our analysis to encourage readers to think critically about what they’re paying for college and what sort of outcomes they can expect in return,” said Money’s education editor, Kaitlin Mulhere.