Earlham College named a ‘Best Value’ college by Princeton Review

Earlham College has earned a spot on The Princeton Review’s ‘Best Value Colleges’ list for 2022. This ranking underscores Earlham’s commitment to combining exceptional academics, affordability and effective career preparation.

Earlham has been featured on this list five years in a row, which recognizes institutions with the highest return on investment. The rankings are based on 40 data points from surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges in 2021-22. Topics covered everything from academics, cost, and financial aid to graduation rates and student debt. 

The educational services company also factored in data from its surveys of students attending the schools as well as data from PayScale.com’s surveys of alumni about their starting and mid-career salaries and job satisfaction.

“The schools we chose as our Best Value Colleges for 2022 are a select group: they comprise only about 7 percent of the nation’s four-year undergraduate institutions,” said Rob Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review. “We commend their administrators, faculties, staff, and alumni for all they are doing to educate their students and guide them to success in their careers. These colleges are also exceptional for the generous amount of financial aid they award to students with need and/or for their comparatively low cost of attendance.”

In addition to its generous financial aid packages, Earlham recently introduced the INspire program, which makes Earlham tuition-free for income-eligible Indiana students. Earlham’s Epic Journey provides a personalized four-year education for students. Each journey features the College’s best-in-class classroom experience with faculty mentorship and career-focused opportunities that inspire students to be catalysts for good in a changing world.

A key feature of the journey is the Epic Advantage, Earlham’s offer of up to $5,000 for every student to participate in an internship, research experience or community-based project before graduation. Earlham is one of the few institutions in the country with guaranteed funding for every student to participate in at least one of these high-impact experiences in locations virtually anywhere in the world. Additional out-of-the-classroom experiences designed for student-athletes and first-generation students are also included as part of the journey.

“The Epic Journey was intentionally designed to ensure that every student can combine the best of the liberal arts with outstanding professional and leadership development opportunities before they graduate,” Earlham President Anne Houtman says. “We give students the tools and support they need to effectively chart a journey of their own design, which prepares them exceptionally well for life after Earlham.”

Earlham is regularly featured in other top resource guides for college-bound students and their families. In the last year, U.S. News and World Report recognized the College as one of the nation’s top 100 liberal arts colleges and called out Earlham’s value and commitment to undergraduate teaching. The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2021 included Earlham as one of the nation’s “best and most interesting” institutions of higher education, noting the College’s commitment to career preparation and its diverse and inclusive campus community.