Emory was ranked No. 14 for "Best Value" in the 2013-2014 Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine list of 100 top private universities in the country.
This year is Emory's eighth consecutive year in the top 15 of the list. Emory has been rated as high as No. 9 in 2009, according to Kiplinger's website.
Emory also ranked 17th in the average amount of need-based financial aid given – at $33,833 – and eighth in non-need-based aid at $21,047.
"This is evidence of Emory's continued commitment to aid, accessibility and affordability," Dean Bentley, director of financial aid, wrote in an email to the Wheel.
The designation of "Best Value" combines objective measures of quality and affordability, according to Kiplinger's website. The website also states that the data included in the ranking calculation ranges from acceptance rate to average debt at graduation.
The magazine uses data provided by Peterson's Undergraduate Database, a national data collection firm that specializes in financial, academic and demographic collection, according to the Peterson website.
The two categories used in the magazine's ranking formula are quality and affordability, worth 56.25 percent and 43.75 percent, respectively.
The measures of quality are comprised of several categories: 25 percent based on competitiveness of the admissions process, 18.7 percent based on graduation rates and the remaining 12.5 percent based on academic support, according to Kiplinger.
The measures of affordability are cost and financial aid worth 31.25 percent, and student indebtedness worth 12.5 percent.
A large portion of the ranking calculation that benefitted Emory came from the affordability section, according to Bentley.
According to the data in the Kiplinger report, an average Emory student can expect to graduate with $27,737 in student debt from a total four-year cost of around $230,000.
Bentley pointed to a study from the Pew Research Center released in 2010, which found the average debt at graduation on student loans was $26,682, putting Emory within the national norms and 39th on the Kiplinger list for this year.
"If managed wisely, student loans can be a very good way to pay for a high quality education that will continue to provide benefits far into the future," Bentley said. "The success of our students rests on the future."
The Kiplinger methodology also rewarded schools that made an effort to decrease student indebtedness, according to the magazine's website, and according to the press release Emory has made a strong commitment to decreasing student indebtedness.
Emory's Office of Financial Aid also meets 100 percent of the demonstrated financial need for all admitted traditional, domestic undergraduate students as determined by a thorough review of each family's financial circumstances, according to the press release.
Approximately 58 percent of Emory students receive some form of financial aid, whether it is loans, grants, scholarships, fellowships or work-study, according to the press release.
"Because of Emory's financial aid package, I will graduate with a whole lot less debt than I thought," College sophomore Paul Anderson said. "I'm definitely grateful."
Some Emory students expressed excitement over the rankings.
"I'm not surprised by the rankings," College freshman Ivy Kilpatrick said. "Financial aid and value was part of the reason I picked Emory."
College freshman Rosie Ditre said she was also satisfied with the rankings.
"This is just another reason Emory is one of the best schools – and the best for me," she said.
– By Stephen Fowler
