Lawrence earns accolades on Princeton Review's 'Value,' 'Impact' lists

Lawrence University is included in The Princeton Review’s 2022 listing of Best Value Colleges in the country.

The report, released by the education services company this week, places Lawrence among 209 best-value schools in the nation—public and private—based on a myriad of factors that include academics, cost, financial aid, graduation rates, and student debt.

In addition, Lawrence is ranked among the top 20 private colleges on a secondary list of Best Schools for Making an Impact, which measures on-campus experiences such as student engagement, service, government, and sustainability and then surveys alumni to rate how meaningful they believe their work life is.

“We really embrace being named a top impact school because it speaks so well to the student experience at Lawrence and to how prepared our graduates are to pursue fulfilling and impactful careers once they leave Lawrence,” President Laurie A. Carter said. “We hear it often from our alumni. The world-class liberal arts education, the close working relationship with faculty, and the guidance and opportunities they received along the way put them on a path to truly make a difference in the world.”

The Princeton Review chose the 209 schools for its Best Value Colleges ranking based on data from its surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges. The company also factored in data from its surveys of students attending the schools as well as data from PayScale.com’s surveys of alumni of the schools about their starting and mid-career salaries and job satisfaction.

In all, The Princeton Review crunched more than 40 data points to tally ROI (Return on Investment) ratings of the colleges.

“The schools we chose as our Best Value Colleges for 2022 are a select group: they comprise only about 7% of the nation’s four-year undergraduate institutions,” said Rob Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review. “We commend their administrators, faculties, staffs, and alumni for all they are doing to educate their students and guide them to success in their careers.”

The Princeton Review does not rank the Best Value Colleges hierarchically on a single list.

Lawrence is among the schools praised for providing significant levels of financial aid. Lawrence has seen the average student debt for its new graduates decline steadily over the past seven years while the national average has continued to rise. Graduates in the 2020-21 academic year had an average loan debt of $27,574, the lowest in more than a decade.

“This is one of the rankings that addresses the payoff of the investment in a college education,” Carter said. “We take that to heart. It’s about preparing our students to go forth and live their best lives.”