The Princeton Review has once again praised Southwestern University for its outstanding return on investment (ROI), naming SU a 2025 “Best Value College.” The nationwide education services company lauded Southwestern as one of the country’s best universities for students seeking a great education with excellent career services at a relatively affordable price.

Only 209 schools across the country earned the designation as a Best Value College in 2025. Although The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges hierarchically, SU is among only 141 private institutions on the list, including just seven in the state of Texas.

“We congratulate Southwestern University, along with all of the other exceptional institutions that made our ‘Best Value Colleges for 2025’ list,” Editor-in-Chief of The Princeton Review Rob Franek said. “They offer outstanding academics and excellent career services, and they demonstrate extraordinary commitments to affordability via generous financial aid and/or comparatively low sticker prices. For all of those reasons – and more – we recommend them highly to college applicants.”

Selections for the list were primarily based on data from The Princeton Review’s surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges in 2024 and 2025. Criteria covered everything from academics, cost, and financial aid to graduation rates and student debt. The company also factored in data from its surveys of students as well as data from PayScale.com’s surveys of alumni about their starting and mid-career salaries and job satisfaction.

In all, The Princeton Review crunched more than 40 data points to tally ROI ratings of the colleges. Those ratings were the primary bases for the company’s selection of schools as Best Value Colleges. Southwestern earned an ROI rating score of 89 out of a possible 99. More information on the project methodology and criteria for the ROI rating can be found at princetonreview.com/college-rankings/best-value-colleges/methodology.

The Princeton Review has included Southwestern in several recent rankings and lists, including “The Best 390 Colleges,” “Best Career Services” (ranked #2 in the nation), and “Top 50 Green Colleges.” Southwestern’s full profile on The Princeton Review can be viewed at princetonreview.com/college/southwestern-university-1023838.