11 Connecticut Colleges Offer Best Value For Money

CONNECTICUT — Everything costs more, but prospective Connecticut college students looking for careers with paychecks that will keep ahead of inflation now have a new tool and resource to help narrow down their choices: Money's new "Best Colleges in America, Ranked By Value" report.

There were just 671 schools that met Money’s strict criteria, which required an enrollment of 500 or better, a graduation rate at or above the mean for the category of institution, and a strong balance sheet. The full methodology can be found here.

Money parsed the data along three categories: affordability, including the availability of grants and other financial aid; quality of education; affordability, including the availability of grants and other financial aid; and outcomes, a category that takes a comprehensive look at earnings after graduation, graduates' economic mobility and a new measure on return on investment using data from the Bipartisan Policy Center.

For students who want to stay in Connecticut to go to college, the following colleges offer the most value, according to the ranking:

Yale University, New Haven

• Overall score: 90.03
• Acceptance rate: 7 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $81,600
• Estimated price with average grant: $18,500
• Percent of students who get grants: 56 percent

Trinity College, Hartford

• Overall score: 76
• Acceptance rate: 36 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $79,000
• Estimated price with average grant: $27,700
• Percent of students who get grants: 51 percent

Wesleyan University, Middletown

• Overall score: 75.98
• Acceptance rate: 21 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $80,900
• Estimated price with average grant: $24,100
• Percent of students who get grants: 42 percent

University of Connecticut, Storrs

• Overall score: 75.03
• Acceptance rate: 56 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $36,100
• Estimated price with average grant: $23,500
• Percent of students who get grants: 65 percent

Fairfield University, Fairfield

• Overall score: 67.95
• Acceptance rate: 56 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $71,800
• Estimated price with average grant: $45,600
• Percent of students who get grants: 87 percent

Connecticut College, New London

• Overall score: 64.49
• Acceptance rate: 38 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $79,500
• Estimated price with average grant: $42,700
• Percent of students who get grants: 94 percent

University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford

• Overall score: 64.16
• Acceptance rate: 78 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $58,000
• Estimated price with average grant: $25,500
• Percent of students who get grants: 93 percent

Quinnipiac University, Hamden

• Overall score: 62.92
• Acceptance rate: 82 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $70,900
• Estimated price with average grant: $44,200
• Percent of students who get grants: 91 percent

Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic

• Overall score: 60.27
• Acceptance rate: 70 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $30,700
• Estimated price with average grant: $20,200
• Percent of students who get grants: 79 percent

Sacred Heart University, Fairfield

• Overall score: 54.08
• Acceptance rate: 66 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $66,500
• Estimated price with average grant: $45,700
• Percent of students who get grants: 91 percent

Albertus Magnus College, New Haven

• Overall score: 53.26
• Acceptance rate: 81 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $59,300
• Estimated price with average grant: $29,000
• Percent of students who get grants: 87 percent

Money also has a tool that students and parents can use to further narrow down their search and build a customized list that uses its high-value college rankings to create a grouping that best matches a student’s interests. The list can be re-ranked, based on the importance of financial aid and post-graduate earnings, Money said.

Nationally, the Top 10 schools based on value are:

1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
3. University of Virginia, Charlottesville
4. Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay
5. Virginia Military Institute, Lexington
6. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
7. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
8. University of Florida, Gainesville
9. University of California, Irvine
10. University of California, Davis