Gettysburg College is a "best value" for "families seeking academically outstanding colleges that have been exceptional at meeting their students' needs for financial aid," reported the Princeton Review and USA Today.

Gettysburg is among only 50 private colleges included in the Princeton Review and USA Today's "Best Value Colleges" list for 2011, which also includes an additional 50 public institutions.

"We're pleased to have teamed up with USA Today to identify and recommend these 100 institutions," Robert Franek, Princeton Review's senior vice-president for publishing, said in a Feb. 22 news release. Criteria included academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid.

Gettysburg College awarded $38 million in scholarships and grants for the 2009-10 academic year and nearly $41 million for 2010-11. Sixty-eight percent of Gettysburg students receive funding.

After receiving the highest possible score, Gettysburg College was also on The Princeton Review's 2010 Financial Aid Honor Roll and was named one of the "best values" among American private liberal arts colleges by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.

More about the 2011 Best Value list is at USA Today's website, where users can click on an interactive map and access a database with stats and facts about each school including its cost of attendance, financial aid, and enrollment-plus a report on why The Princeton Review named it a "Best Value" college.

The Princeton Review based its Best Value Colleges for 2011 list on student opinion surveys collected from 650 colleges and universities the company regards as having the nation's academically best undergraduates, as well as institutional data. Academic factors included the quality of students the schools attracted as measured by admissions credentials as well as how students rated their academic experiences.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate, and other distinguished scholars. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Jim Hale, senior staff writer