Albion College ranks among the top 10 percent nationally in College Factual’s 2020 list of Best Colleges for the Money.

College Factual, which looks for the best values so students can avoid college debt, placed Albion 115th out of 1,484 colleges and universities in the United States. Albion also ranked 27th out of 227 schools in the Great Lakes region.

“We are extremely proud of our recognition as one of the Best Colleges for the Money,” said Dr. Hernan Bucheli, vice president for enrollment management. “This acknowledgment of Albion College’s value, academic excellence and affordability clearly underscores the distinctiveness of Albion College as an outstanding liberal arts institution.”

College Factual based its cost data on the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the Department of Education.

An estimated cost of a college’s four-year undergraduate degree is calculated based on the average grants and scholarships provided and the average number of years it actually takes to complete the degree. This cost is then compared to the school’s quality ranking. The bigger the difference between the school’s quality and its cost, the more quality education is available for the dollar and thus the higher the value for the money.

This is the third strong ranking for Albion in the last month.

It comes on the heels of ThoughtCo.com rating Albion as one of the top 30 colleges in the Midwest (a list that also includes the University of Michigan, Notre Dame and Northwestern), a grouping that highlights student retention and graduation rates as well as student engagement, selectivity and financial aid.

Albion also was cited in the top 11 percent nationally among 829 colleges and second in Michigan in a list of the Best Colleges for Financial Aid published by LendEDU.

“These rankings are testimony to the strong value that students get from their education at Albion College,” Bucheli said. “The advantages of an exemplary private liberal arts college greatly benefit our students, both in their studies and well into their careers.”