These are the 5 'best value' colleges in N.J., ranking says

Kiplinger's annual ranking selected 300 schools nationwide that are a good value for the money, according to data on academic quality and affordability.

PRINCETON -- Princeton University may be among the costliest colleges in the state, but it is the campus where you get the most for your money in New Jersey, according to a new ranking.

Kiplinger, a personal finance magazine, released its annual rankings on the nation's "best value" colleges. The 300 schools were selected from a pool of 1,200 colleges based on both their academic quality and their affordability.

The other New Jersey colleges that made the list of the top 300 "best value" schools in the nation were: The College of New Jersey (113th in the nation); Ramapo College (184th); Rutgers University- New Brunswick (148th); and Stevens Institute of Technology (194th).

Princeton ranked as the third "best value" school in the nation, behind Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania (No. 1) and Davidson College in North Carolina (No. 2).

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Princeton ranked highly in part because its total annual cost of attendance ($61,140) is offset by the large amount of need-based aid ($44,890) it gives to the average student and the low amount of debt ($8,577) the average student had at graduation, according to Kiplinger's data.

This year, Princeton is charging undergraduates $45,320 in annual tuition, making it the third-costliest university in New Jersey behind Stevens Institute of Technology and Drew University. The total cost of attendance Kiplinger's considers in its rankings includes room, board, books, transportation and other expenses added to the tuition bill.

"There's no way around it: College is expensive, and it's going to stay that way for a long time. So, with our rankings -- which weigh affordability alongside academic quality -- our goal is to help students and their parents understand what's really worth the price," said Janet Bodnar, editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. "While some schools ranked higher than others, all 300 schools on the list are of extraordinary value, being chosen out of a universe of nearly 1,200 schools."

Click through the gallery above to see the Top 10 "best value" colleges in the nation.

The rankings, introduced in 1998, combine public and private colleges and universities on a single list. Unlike other college rankings, the Kiplinger list only uses statistics to produce its rankings and does not consider subjective criteria, like a school's national reputation, the magazine's editors said.

Earlier this year, Princeton University took the top spot in U.S. News and World Report's best college rankings.