A college education is one of the biggest investments you will ever make. So what kind of a return will you get? Forbes magazine has put out their 2017 Best College Value ranking the best value for your tuition dollar based on tuition costs, school quality, post-grad earnings, student debt and graduation success. It's not so much "what's the best school" as much as "which delivers the best return on your investment." This is very important when you figure the average cost of a public education is around $80,000 and say $180,000 for a private one.

How did the New Jersey colleges rate on the list? In the top 100, Princeton University came in third with an instate tuition cost of $41,820, then we go all the way to 65 to find Rutgers with an in state tuition price of 13,813, followed by The College Of New Jersey at 74 with an in state tuition cost of $15,024.

Forbes used data collected from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard as well as PayScale, the world's largest salary database. Remember though a big part of your return will also depend on what you put into it, as far as grades and job search. It also helps to choose majors where there's lots of opportunity.

More from New Jersey 101.5:

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM