New list of 'best value' colleges released: Is your alma mater on it?

(NEXSTAR) – As the cost of higher education rises, it may be even more important to you to know you're getting your money's worth.

After updating its methodology, Niche released a new ranking Monday of the "best value" colleges in the country. This year, Niche says it dropped outdated data sets and adopted new ways to evaluate whether a school is considered a good value, such as earnings one year after graduation, percent of graduates employed two years post-graduation, and how quickly alumni's wages are growing.

Niche's new calculations land elite colleges at the top of its "best value" list, including several Ivy League schools and prestigious technology institutes.

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While these schools may be a "good value" for graduates who land high-paying jobs, none of the top schools are considered cheap. The California Institute of Technology in Southern California, which ranks No. 1 on Niche's list, has a stunningly high estimated cost of attending per year: $83,598 when you factor in tuition, room and board, and books. (The school reports about half of undergraduate attendees are receiving some amount of need-based financial aid.)

Few public colleges rank among the list of best value schools despite their typically lower prices. Georgia Institute of Technology is the highest ranking public school in the country on the list at No. 15. In-state tuition at the school is $10,258, but jumps up to $31,370 for non-Georgians.

Below are the top 25 schools on Niche's list of "Best Value Colleges in America."

Rank	School	State
1	California Institute of Technology	CA
2	Harvey Mudd College	CA
3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA
4	Stanford University	CA
5	Princeton University	NJ
6	Harvard University	MA
7	Rice University	TX
8	Yale University	CT
9	Claremont McKenna College	CA
10	University of Pennsylvania	PA
11	Pomona College	CA
12	Duke University	NC
13	Carnegie Mellon University	PA
14	Amherst College	MA
15	Georgia Institute of Technology	GA
16	Dartmouth College	NH
17	Georgetown University	DC
18	Williams College	MA
19	University of Notre Dame	IN
20	Colorado School of Mines	CO
21	Washington and Lee University	VA
22	Northwestern University	IL
23	Lehigh University	PA
24	Vanderbilt University	TN
25	Washington University in St. Louis	MO

Find Niche's full ranking of schools on their site.

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With the cost of attending school so high, it's easy to see why so many end up with hefty student loans. Tens of millions of Americans are about to see their bills drop by $10,000 or $20,000 after President Joe Biden announced his long-awaited student loan forgiveness plan last week.

When exactly the loan forgiveness will be issued is still a work in progress, but the Biden administration says it will be made available before the payment pause ends at the end of the year.