Study says Thomas Edison State and TCNJ are best value colleges

A new report by a group called Grad Reports says that both Thomas Edison State University and the College of New Jersey are both among the best value colleges in the country.

In the category of “Optimal Colleges”, TESU ranked first overall and TCNJ was #6.

The rankings were based on the cost of tuition and a “Salary Score” of alumni. The description of the methodology:

Our Optimal Choice list highlights the best value colleges for students that offer high salaries and low tuition. We researched salary and tuition information for over 1,782 colleges to find the schools that produce alumni who earn high salaries without the high price tag. We determine alumni earnings based on a ranking system that investigates alumni salaries by program, called Salary Score.

About TESU, the site said

This primarily online institution has a higher Salary Score than the more widely known school, UC Berkeley. TESU has a Salary Score of 100 for its interdisciplinary programs, including its online bachelor's in liberal studies. The university also prepares healthcare students for relatively high-paying jobs. For example, their alumni in health-related and nursing professions enjoy scores of 99 and 92, respectively. TESU's overall Salary Score of 94.23 is nearly identical to that of Columbia University in New York, but Columbia's tuition rate is almost eight times higher.

TESU’s average tuition is $7,926.

TCNJ’s salary score was 89.07 with tuition at $16,923 (in-state).

Three of the top five schools for salary scores are primarily online, including TESU. Almost 86% of the schools are public and only 3.6% are for-profit schools.

It’s pretty impressive that Thomas Edison ranks ahead of such prestigious schools like UC-Berkeley and Notre Dame. Congrats to TESU and TCNJ for being recognized as great values.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.