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The best values in private colleges

Continued from page 1

A mixed outlook

How will next year's college applicants fare? Prospects are mixed. Tuition increases should remain in the 4.3% range, Warren said, making the average annual total cost of a private-college education a little more than $37,000 in 2010-11. That's a smaller bump than the 6% increase of recent years. But the amount itself is hardly peanuts, especially compared with the $14,500 average total cost at a public school. Many private colleges already charge more than $50,000 per year.

Meanwhile, colleges that recently expanded their financial aid, including replacing loans with grants, must now do so with vastly diminished endowments -- the well from which much of the aid is drawn. So far, top-tier schools have stood by their commitment. But some schools are quietly adjusting their admissions policies to weed out more-needy students, said David Oxtoby, the president of Pomona. He hopes to continue Pomona's no-loan policy, introduced in 2007, but won't guarantee it. "We can't commit to never pulling back."

Best values in private liberal-arts colleges


Rank	School	State	Enrollment	Total cost*	Cost after aid based on need	Cost after aid not based on need	Average debt at graduation
1	Pomona College, Claremont	Calif.	1,532	$50,568	$16,454	$50,568	$11,300
2	Swarthmore College	Pa.	1,490	$50,750	$19,035	$14,596	N/A
3	Williams College, Williamstown	Mass.	1,997	$50,680	$14,305	$50,680	$9,214
4	Davidson College	N.C.	1,668	$46,030	$25,526	$29,433	$25,025
5	Claremont McKenna College, Claremont	Calif.	1,212	$51,380	$19,229	$40,257	$10,518
6	Amherst College	Mass.	1,697	$49,678	$13,907	$49,678	$12,603
7	Washington and Lee University, Lexington	Va.	1,752	$50,352	$21,968	$25,036	$23,616
8	College of the Holy Cross, Worcester	Mass.	2,898	$50,042	$24,418	$27,442	$16,800
9	Colby College, Waterville	Maine	1,846	$51,020	$20,214	$28,620	$19,222
10	Bowdoin College, Brunswick	Maine	1,723	$51,700	$19,909	$50,700	$17,560
11	Middlebury College	Vt.	2,455	$51,380	$22,072	$51,380	$19,981
12	Haverford College	Pa.	1,169	$52,359	$21,838	$52,359	$17,125
13	Carleton College, Northfield	Minn.	2,000	$50,933	$24,542	$47,538	$20,083
14	Hamilton College, Clinton	N.Y.	1,872	$51,160	$23,813	$36,709	$18,259
15	Bates College, Lewiston	Maine	1,776	$50,500	$20,407	$50,500	$18,785
16	Wesleyan University, Middletown	Conn.	2,772	$54,097	$26,339	$7,142	$27,402
17	Wellesley College	Mass.	2,344	$50,594	$18,219	$50,594	$12,639
18	Vassar College, Poughkeepsie	N.Y.	2,389	$52,330	$21,631	$52,330	$19,910
19	Grinnell College	Iowa	1,678	$45,912	$19,991	$35,203	$19,526
20	Whitman College, Walla Walla	Wash.	1,489	$45,412	$21,949	$37,459	$16,684
21	Kenyon College, Gambier	Ohio	1,644	$50,640	$23,671	$38,861	$19,462
22	Wheaton College	Ill.	2,366	$35,090	$20,600	$30,052	$21,549
23	Colgate University, Hamilton	N.Y.	2,836	$51,890	$19,951	$51,890	$20,164
24	Harvey Mudd College, Claremont	Calif.	738	$51,937	$25,560	$41,497	$21,018
25	Macalester College, St. Paul	Minn.	1,900	$47,866	$22,490	$42,551	$17,304

* Total cost reflects tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and estimated expenses for books. It does not include additional meals, transportation or personal expenses.

See all 50 top liberal-arts colleges at a glance

Best values in private universities


Rank	School	State	Enrollment	Total cost*	Cost after aid based on need	Cost after aid not based on need	Average debt at graduation
1	Calif. Institute of Technology, Pasadena	Calif.	921	$46,629	$18,159	$17,715	$9,871
2	Princeton	N.J.	4,981	$49,055	$17,704	$49,055	$5,955
3	Yale, New Haven	Conn.	5,277	$48,450	$12,747	$48,450	$12,297
4	Rice, Houston	Texas	3,051	$44,088	$19,984	$29,423	$11,108
5	Harvard, Cambridge	Mass.	6,678	$49,684	$12,834	$49,684	$10,813
6	Duke, Durham	N.C.	6,496	$51,125	$20,235	$23,406	$24,205
7	Columbia, New York	N.Y.	5,667	$54,789	$21,038	$54,789	$18,420
8	University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia	Pa.	9,756	$51,080	$23,969	$51,080	$19,085
9	Dartmouth College, Hanover	N.H.	4,147	$51,821	$18,373	$51,371	$20,126
10	MIT, Cambridge	Mass.	4,153	$50,292	$20,234	$50,292	$14,148
11	Stanford	Calif.	6,532	$51,267	$20,661	$47,752	$15,724
12	Brown, Providence	R.I.	6,095	$50,394	$20,468	$50,394	$19,390
13	Emory, Atlanta	Ga.	6,890	$50,032	$23,074	$31,530	$23,181
14	University of Richmond	Va.	2,795	$49,540	$18,485	$30,330	$20,915
15	Northwestern, Evanston	Ill.	8,476	$51,850	$25,914	$49,607	$19,808
16	University of Notre Dame	Ind.	8,363	$49,795	$25,658	$43,689	$29,835
17	Vanderbilt, Nashville	Tenn.	6,637	$52,520	$22,104	$34,276	$19,839
18	Cornell, Ithaca	N.Y.	13,846	$50,874	$25,602	$50,874	$23,485
19	University of Chicago	Ill.	5,065	$52,232	$18,394	$40,712	$27,562
20	Johns Hopkins, Baltimore	Md.	4,744	$52,890	$25,538	$28,101	$21,984
21	Washington Univ. in St. Louis	Mo.	6,985	$52,609	$25,135	$45,223	N/A
22	Tufts, Medford	Mass.	5,044	$51,889	$24,299	$51,389	$23,687
23	Boston College, Chestnut Hill	Mass.	9,060	$52,308	$26,761	$34,412	$19,358
24	Brandeis, Waltham	Mass.	3,196	$50,739	$26,712	$28,291	$20,095
25	Wake Forest, Winston-Salem	N.C.	4,476	$49,932	$25,557	$37,148	$24,827

* Total cost reflects tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and estimated expenses for books. It does not include additional meals, transportation or personal expenses.