13 NJ Colleges Make Forbes Top List

Forbes has put together their list of the Top 650 Colleges & Universities in the country (650 seems like an arbitrary number to land on, but fine) and 13 schools from New Jersey made the list.

The Top 5 are no surprise, really:

1. Harvard
2. Stanford
3. Yale
4. MIT
5. Princeton

According to Forbes, going to Princeton will set you back about $66k (which seems low to me), leave you $4k in debt (no idea where they pulled that number) and hook you up with an average "early career" salary of around $75k. Not bad.

Elsewhere in the Top 650 are:

• 123 - Rutgers University
• 149 - College of New Jersey
• 152 - Stevens Institute of Technology
• 249 - Seton Hall University
• 268 - New Jersey Institute of Technology
• 341 - Ramapo College of New Jersey
• 356 - Drew University
• 361 - Rowan University
• 422 - Montclair State University
• 443 - Stockton University
• 478 - Rider University
• 546 - Fairleigh Dickinson University

Aw man, my alma mater Monmouth University didn't even make it into the Top 650? Did we at least land at 651, or what?

In more fun-with-numbers, The University of Chicago has the highest price at almost $76k, while the lowest (outside of Navy, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard Academies) goes to the United States Merchant Marine Academy, at only $12k. Beyond the services, the cheapest is BYU-Idaho and BYU, at around $12k and $18k, respectively.

Which college leaves you with the most debt? Texas Christian, at over $14k. The least debt (again, outside of the service academies) somehow goes to College of the Ozarks, with $0.

And finally, what we're most interested in - which colleges get you the highest salary: some place named Harvey Mudd College apparently sets you on pace to earn $88k out of college.