ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 26, 1994                   TAG: 9408260066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: TRENTON, N. J.                                 LENGTH: Medium

PRINCETON? HOW ABOUT TRENTON STATE INSTEAD?

Trenton State College, the Everyman's school of the Garden State, rates as one of the nation's best buys in higher education - a far better value than nearby Princeton University, Money Magazine says.

The personal finance monthly ranked Trenton State No. 3 in its fifth annual evaluation, saying it has an ``upper crust feel, but it comes at a commoner's price.'' It has been in the magazine's Top 10 each year.

Trenton State junior Bill Tortoriello calls his school a value that ``you can't beat.''

Princeton University, eight miles away, ranked 94th - but made the magazine's ``costly but worth it'' list.

Princeton sophomore Eric Paras, who gives prospective students tours of the campus, thinks his school is really worth the money. ``The facilities are really tremendous, there's a really great staff here,'' Paras said.

The survey, appearing in the issue that hits newsstands Sept. 6, used 16 factors relating to cost and academic quality in ranking America's 100 best college buys.

New College of the University of South Florida, in Sarasota, topped the list for the second year in a row. Rice University in Houston was No. 2 for the second straight year.

The list included several Virginia schools: Washington and Lee University (ranked 21st); Sweet Briar College (31st); Emory & Henry College (37th); James Madison University (38th); Mary Washington College (39th); University of Virginia (61st); Virginia Tech (69th); College of William and Mary (74th) and Marymount College (93rd).

The magazine determined that out of the 78 schools in the country that charge more than $17,500 per year, 16 are worth the money. Princeton, at a cost of $20,210, ranked 12th. 


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