The U.S. based magazine U.S. News has recently published its 2009 edition of its American college rankings. This year, Harvard beat Princeton to the number one position. Interestingly, Harvard this year announced to offer wider funding to student with parents with limited income. the threshold was raised from $60,000 a year per family to $180,000 per family per annum, basically making access to Harvard university much wider attainable. The ranking covered in this section concerns the 'Best value' ranking. U.S. News magazine also offers other ranking lists, such as 'Top Public School'
What they look at:
| Peer assessment | Student retention rates | Faculty resources | Sizes of classes | Acceptance rate | Alumni givings | SAT/ACT | Percentage of full-time faculty | Faculty : Student ratio |
What they came up with:
1. Harvard
2. Princeton
3. Yale
4. M.I.T.
5. Stanford
6. University of Pennsylvania
7. California Institute of Technology
8. Columbia University
9. Duke, Durham NC
10. University of Chicago
The website of the U.S. News Ranking offers more background, and includes the whole list for its university ranking for 2009
