Queens College is a ‘Best Value’ college

Top shelf academics at bargain prices put Queens College among the country’s “best value” undergraduate institutions, according to the 2008 edition of America’s Best Value Colleges published by the Princeton Review.
“The 90 public and 75 private colleges we chose for this edition offer a terrific education, plus they have impressive records of meeting students’ needs for financial aid,” said Robert Franek, vice president of publishing for the New York-based education services company. “We highly recommend them as America’s best college education deals.”
To arrive at the list, Princeton Review editors collected institutional data and surveyed students at 650 colleges nationwide during the 2005 to 2006 school year. Areas of focus were undergraduate academics, costs and financial aid.
The Princeton Review stated in its profile of Queens College that the words “great education, cheap price” summed up the Flushing school’s appeal. It also noted a strong emphasis on the liberal arts and a largely helpful, engaged faculty.
Approximately 13,000 degree-seeking undergraduate students attend the school, where annual in-state tuition is $4,000. During the last school year, 48 percent of freshmen and 57 percent of all undergraduates received need-based financial aid. For freshmen, the average total need-based gift aid was $1,250 and the average loan was $2,500.
In the student surveys, the school had the best reputation among all City University of New York undergraduate institutions. It also got kudos for its rich ethnic diversity and a surprisingly vibrant social scene with more than 120 student clubs despite the school’s large number of commuters.
Because of state funding for the school, however, the Princeton Review encountered complaints about outdated lab equipment and the difficulty some students encountered registering for classes in certain departments.
Founded in 1937, Queens College is located on a 77-acre campus in Flushing and offers over 115 undergraduate and graduate majors and a variety of specialized honors programs. Last year accounting, general psychology and sociology were the most popular undergraduate majors and the student to faculty ratio was 17 to 1, according to the Princeton Review.