PROVO — Year after year, the Princeton Review names Brigham Young University the nation's top "Stone Cold Sober" school. Now BYU is No. 1 for a different reason.
The LDS Church-owned and subsidized school is the best value among America's private colleges and universities, according to the Princeton Review's new book, "America's Best Value Colleges: 2007 Edition," released Tuesday. BYU ranked third last year.
Four other Utah institutions were ranked among the nation's top 150 schools — the University of Utah, Utah State University, Westminster College and Southern Utah University.
At least once every three years, Princeton Review editors conduct on-campus surveys at each one of more than 600 schools. They also get feedback from students who fill out online surveys. Prospective students use the books and www.princetonreview.com as resources while selecting a college.
"The 150 schools in the book are all great values financially and great academic values overall," said Robert Franek, Princeton Review's vice-president of publishing.
"BYU has a clear commitment to not only providing that great academic experience but making it affordable to students," Franek said. "It's not surprising to us at Princeton Review because we've been writing about them for so long. It's a good story to tell because they do not waver from that mission. They deserve kudos for it."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides more than $200 million each year to subsidize student tuition, according to estimates. BYU freshmen Scott Maddux and Alicia Riggers noticed the low sticker price when they shopped around.
"I think it's an incredible deal overall," said Maddux, an 18-year-old accounting student from Camarillo, Calif., who considered enrolling at the University of Southern California. "BYU costs a tenth of what it would cost me to go to USC."
"It is so much cheaper than anywhere else you can go, and it's a major university," said Riggers, a 19-year-old biology student from Atlanta, Ga. "We really compete well with other major universities."
BYU's value will take a slight hit this fall. Officials announced in November tuition will increase 6.2 percent for the 2006-07 school year.
Vanderbilt University chancellor Gordon Gee, a former BYU law professor and former president of Brown University and Ohio State University, spoke at BYU on Tuesday. He told the Deseret Morning News that BYU provides a "world-class" education for LDS students.
"I think BYU provides a superb undergraduate experience for its students," Gee said. "It has a limited number but a very distinguished number of professional graduate programs, so it is a substantial university with all the resources of a great university, but it still focuses on the quality of its undergraduate experience, which is highly unusual."
This is the third year the Princeton Review has ranked the country's schools on value. Last year, the book included 81 schools, including BYU and the U. This year, the book expanded to 150 schools. Franek said adding three more Utah schools was warranted.
"We think Westminster is a gem of a liberal arts school," he said.
Franek noted that SUU graduates leave school with an average of $11,400 in debt.
"That is a smokin' deal," he said. "When you get close to the $10,000 mark, that's pretty compelling."
Each school's profile can be viewed for free at www.princetonreview.com.
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com