SUNY Old Westbury has been ranked among the “best colleges” in terms of greatest value in Money Magazine’s recent “Best Colleges for Your Money 2019” issue.
According to the publication, OW ranked 256 out of 744 four-year colleges across the U.S. Money cut down its ranking by only including institutions that had at least 500 students, had sufficient reliable data that could be analyzed, were not in financial distress, and have a high graduation rate.
The data collection and analysis for the rankings were led by the American Institute for Research (AIR), and Money directed quality control. Money believes that “going to school shouldn’t be a lifetime of debt,” so this data collection and practical analysis was offered to help students and families find high quality, yet affordable colleges.
All schools were evaluated by using twenty-six factors in three categories: quality of education, affordability and outcomes. The factors that contributed to the results include estimated tuition costs without aid, percentage of students receiving aid, median student’s debt, early career earnings, and SAT/ACT score.
According to the survey, SUNY OW graduates’ median debt at graduation is $17,000, which is considered much lower than the national average, and their early career earnings within the first three years of work is estimated at $48,100.
“SUNY Old Westbury has a very, very good value,” said Jacob Heller, assistant vice president for Institutional Research and Assessment. “Students receive extensive aid [and] students graduate in a reasonable amount of time.” Some students agree that SUNY OW has successfully offered them the best value by combining affordability and equality.
Nina Crawford, a media and communications major at OW, says she is pleased with her decision to enroll here since she will graduate from OW debt free. “I think it’s the best college for my money,” she said.
Heller believes that while this acknowledgement from Money Magazine is great, there are other factors that make OW among the best in terms of value.
“A student should look to see if the college offers the major that they want,” he said. “Do they get to know the faculty, is it the kind of community where they will feel comfortable, can they take courses that works around their schedules, will they get a good education.”
Heller hopes that this achievement “will bring Old Westbury to the attention of people who might have otherwise not looked at it.”