Centre improves its position on Kiplinger's Best Value list

RELEASED: January 22, 2009

DANVILLE, KY—Centre College has once again been named to "Kiplinger's Personal Finance" magazine's list of best value colleges. Centre is ranked 29^th among all U.S. private liberal arts colleges in the February 2009 issue of the publication, improving one position from a 30^th ranking last year.

Centre President John Roush notes that the College is regularly acknowledged as one of the nation's best values:

"This is only the latest recognition of the outstanding value of the education the College provides," Roush says. "The exceptional return on investment of our learning experience has been noted by U.S. News and Princeton Review, among others, and Consumers Digest ranks Centre as the No. 1 value among the nation's colleges. Wherever you look, the merit of the College's promise of personal education that leads to extraordinary success is affirmed." (Read Roush's college rankings op-ed)

Kiplinger's rankings were divided into two lists—top-50 best values in private universities and top-50 best values in private liberal arts colleges. Centre was the only Kentucky institution to be ranked in either list.

Kiplinger's looked at more than 1,000 private four-year colleges and universities to determine the best combination of academic excellence, generous financial aid packages and lower total costs. The final list was narrowed down to the top-100 best value institutions. The top five "best value" private universities were California Institute of Technology, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Rice. The top five "best value" private liberal arts colleges were Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst, Wellesley and Pomona.

Centre offers need-based financial aid and merit-based scholarships to a majority of its students. More than 80 percent of Centre students receive financial assistance, nearly 60 percent receive need-based financial aid and more than half receive merit-based scholarships. For more information on Centre financial aid and scholarships, click here.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/For news archives, go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.