Grinnell College has been rated as one of the “best values” in the country by the Princeton Review. Jim Sumner, dean of admissions and financial aid at Grinnell, says their ranking in The Princeton Review is valuable. Sumner says The Princeton Review is a widely-used college planning resource.One of the reasons Grinnell ranked so high is because nearly 90 percent of students get financial aid. Sumner says that’s because Grinnell has a one-point-three billion dollar endowment which is used to provide scholarships. Sumner says it costs about 50-thousand dollars a year to educate a student at Grinnell, but tuition this year is about half that because of the endowment. If a graduating senior paid full tuition for all four years at Grinnell, he or she would have shelled out about 100-thousand dollars. About 15-hundred students are enrolled at Grinnell and Sumner says the cost of going to Grinnell ranks well when compared to similar liberal arts colleges around the country.But Sumner concedes “the valedictorian of Fort Dodge High School” might make a different evaluation when comparing the cost of Grinnell to the University of Iowa. Still, Sumner says he’s always pleased with the publicity The Princeton Review brings. Sumner says he’s reminded of what a dean who worked at Monica Lewinsky’s alma mater told him when admissions to her old school spiked after she made headlines. He said it doesn’t matter what they say about you, as long as they spell your name right. While Sumner wouldn’t put the rating from the Princeton Review in that category, he expects the ranking works to Grinnell’s advantage. The Princeton Review found the average cost of a degree from a public college is 42-thousand dollars; a degree from a private college costs an average of 107-thousand.
