Money magazine wanted to discover which of the roughly 1,500 U.S. four-year colleges offers the biggest bang for the tuition buck, and BYU came in ninth.
Money measured the schools in three major categories: educational quality, affordability and alumni earnings provided by PayScale.com.
Here are the top 10 schools in Money’s opinion:
1. Babson College — Babson Park, Massachusetts
2. Webb Institute — Glen Cove, New York
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Cambridge, Massachusetts
4. Princeton University — Princeton, New Jersey
5. Stanford University — Stanford, California
6. Harvard University — Cambridge, Massachusetts
7. Harvey Mudd College — Claremont, California
8. Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art — New York City, New York
9. Brigham Young University — Provo, Utah
10. California Institute of Technology — Pasadena, California
Other Utah schools with good rankings include Utah State and University of Utah. USU graduates spend $85,983 on tuition and earn $44,400 after five years. U of U grads pay $115,666 for a bachelors degree and earn $46,300 within five years.
This is what Money magazine had to say about BYU, “Not surprisingly, the campus is not very diverse. Fewer than 6 percent of students say they are either black or Hispanic. BYU’s Division I sports teams are very competitive, especially in football, volleyball, track, and women’s soccer. The comparatively modern campus is about 45 minutes south of Salt Lake City, and offers views of the nearby Rocky Mountains. Because of the emphasis on church, family, and the honor code, students say that dating is a main social activity and that many BYU students go on to pair off and get married.”