Caltech Rated #1 Private College Value

Pasadena - For the fourth straight year, Caltech has been been ranked number one as the best value among 100 private colleges and universities, a national personal finance magazine is reporting.

According to the December issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, Caltech charges a relatively low sticker price of $46,629, and it knocks more than half of that off, on average, for students who qualify for need-based aid.

The school offers merit scholarships, although those awards are being phased out, Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau told Kiplinger.

Still, students graduate with an average debt of $9,871, the second- lowest on the magazine's list. Princeton leads in that category. Its students walk away with an average debt of less that $6,000.

Kiplinger also reported that Pomona College ranked number one in best value for liberal-arts colleges for the second straight year. Almost all of its freshmen return for sophomore year, and 90 percent of its seniors graduate on time.

As for financial aid, the average financial aid package at the private school brings the $50,568 sticker price down to $16,454. And the Pomona College faculty includes five Nobel-prize winners.

Caltech's endowment did not emerge from the recession unscathed, but the hit could have been worse: it lost about 20 percent over the 12 months that ended in September, compared with Harvard's 27.3 cut and Yale's 24.6 percent drop, Kiplinger reported.

Caltech responded to the downturn, the magazine reported, by cutting administrative costs and postponing long-term projects, but it continued to hire faculty and maintain financial aid levels.