Hillsdale College is one of the nation’s top 50 “Best Value” private colleges, according to The Princeton Review. The New York-based education services company known for its test-prep courses reported the “Best Value” colleges list in the January 8, 2009, print edition of USA TODAY and at PrincetonReview.com/bestvaluecolleges. The “Best Value” colleges list features 50 public and 50 private colleges and universities.

Said Robert Franek, Princeton Review VP-Publisher, "We have always believed finding the 'best fit' college should be the foremost goal for student applicants and their families. But the economic crisis and financial downturn have presented sobering challenges both to families struggling to afford college and to higher education institutions struggling to maintain their programs in the face of budget and funding shortfalls. We are pleased to partner with USA TODAY to present these schools for all they are doing to provide outstanding academics at a relatively low cost of attendance and/or generous financial aid."

The Princeton Review selected these institutions as its "best value" choices for 2009 based on its surveys of administrators and students at more than 650 public and private colleges and universities. The selection criteria covered more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs of attendance, and financial aid, using the most recently reported data from each institution for its 2007-08 academic year.

Hillsdale College was previously noted by The Princeton Review in the 2009 edition of its annual book, "The Best 368 Colleges." Only about 15% of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and two Canadian colleges are in the book. It has two-page profiles of the schools and student survey-based ranking lists of top 20 colleges in more than 60 categories. Hillsdale ranked highly in categories such as "Professors Get High Marks" and "Most Conservative Students."