Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University rank as the best schools in the nation.
哈佛大學(Harvard University)、麻省理工大學(the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)與耶魯大學(Yale University)名列全美最好的三所大學。
But in terms of value for the money, Berea College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Washington, Seattle top the list. Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind., and the University of California, Los Angeles round out the top five, with Harvard coming in sixth.
但在性價比方面，位於肯塔基州的伯裡亞學院(Berea College)、北卡羅來納大學教堂山分校(the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)和華盛頓大學西雅圖分校(University of Washington, Seattle)位居前三。前五名中的另外兩所是普渡大學西拉法葉校區(Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind.)以及加州大學洛杉磯分校(the University of California, Los Angeles)，哈佛大學位列第六。
This year, for the first time, the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings calculated which schools among the top 250 overall provide the best value, by dividing each school’s overall score by its average net price—including tuition, fees, room and board—for students who received federal or institutional aid.
今年的《華爾街日報》/《泰晤士報高等教育》大學排名(The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings，簡稱：WSJ/THE大學排名)首次用每所學校的總分數除以獲聯邦政府或機構資助學生的平均學費淨額(包括學費、雜費、食宿費)，評選出全美前250所大學中性價比最高的學校。
Berea College, a liberal-arts school in Kentucky that landed at No. 231 in the overall ranking, leads the list for best value because its expectation that students work on campus and its hefty endowment allow it to charge no tuition and keep its average net price at $2,862 for first-year students, according to federal data for 2015-16. (The rankings don’t include preliminary calculations for more-recent years, as those haven’t yet been fully reviewed by the Education Department.)
在總榜單上排名第231位的文科類大學伯裡亞學院在性價比方面排名第一，該校提倡學生在校內工作，加上捐款豐厚，所以不收取學費。根據2015-16年的聯邦數據，該校學生入學第一年的平均學費淨額為2,862美元。(這項排名沒有計算近幾年的初步數據，因為這些數據還未經過教育部門審核。)
Student jobs at the school range from clearing brush on hiking trails to crunching numbers in the business office, allowing Berea to employ a leaner full-time staff and put more of its $1.2 billion endowment toward supporting students, says President Lyle D. Roelofs. 「Everything is built to support this kind of population,」 he says, noting that most students are from families in the nation’s lowest income quartile.
「所有這一切都是為了支持這個群體，」他指出，大部分學生都來自全國收入最低的25%的家庭。伯裡亞學院提供給學生的工作既有清理步道兩側的灌木叢，也有在辦公室裡處理數據，校長萊爾D.勒洛夫斯(Lyle D. Roelofs)表示，這樣一來學校可以減少聘用全職員工，並將12億美元的捐款更多地用於資助學生。
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, No. 37 overall, is the No. 2 best-value school. Its Carolina Covenant ensures debt-free graduation for students whose families earn less than double the federal poverty level, just under $50,000 for a family of four last year, and other aid programs help even middle-income students. The school’s average net price was just over $10,000.
北卡羅來納大學教堂山分校總排名第37，但性價比排名第二。該校的卡羅來納公約計劃(Carolina Covenant)可以確保家庭收入低於兩倍聯邦貧困水平、或是來自四口之家且過去一年收入不到5萬美元的。學生在無需負債的情況下完成學業。有些資助項目甚至會為中等收入家庭的學生提供資助。該校平均學雜費淨額僅1萬美元出頭。
Seven of the top 10 best-value schools are public institutions. Those private schools that are toward the top of the list tend to have significant endowments, meaning they can devote substantial resources to financial aid.
性價比排名前十的學校中有七所是公立學校。排名靠前的私立學校通常都能獲得大額捐款，從而得以將大量資源投入到助學款項上。