Newswise — Olin College of Engineering was named again as one of the 2018 “Best Buy” Colleges in the Fiske Guide to Colleges released today. Olin is one of 18 private colleges recognized for their combination of quality academic offerings and affordable costs.

 Olin College was founded in 1997 with a visionary and generous grant by the F.W. Olin Foundation, which recognized the importance of accessibility to talented students and provided an endowment substantial enough to offer a merit-based half-tuition scholarship to all students. In addition, all students who qualify receive need-based aid, increasing the college’s affordability and allowing Olin to recruit a diverse group of students.

 “Olin’s value runs deeper than what it costs to educate an engineer,” said Olin President Richard K. Miller. “What we are offering is a new and constantly evolving model for educating engineer innovators and our students are important co-designers in this extraordinary learning experience.”

 The Olin curriculum is based on the idea that engineering starts with people --understanding who we’re designing for, what they value, and where opportunities to create value exist -- and ends with people -- appreciating the social context of engineering work and making a positive difference in the world. At Olin, students learn how to envision positive change and also how to realize and deliver that change. In contrast, traditional engineering curriculum has been more narrow; teaching students how to solve problems, but not how to find the right problems to solve, or how to get their solutions out of the lab and into the world.

 Olin joins some of the world’s best public and private universities and colleges in offering a great value, according to Fiske. All of the Best Buy schools fall into the inexpensive or moderate price category, and most have four- or five-star academics ratings.

 See the complete list below.

Public

Arizona State University                                        

The Evergreen State College                                              

University of Florida                                                           

University of Iowa                                                   

University of Maryland                                           

University of Missouri                                                        

University of Nebraska—Lincoln  

New College of Florida                                           

University of North Carolina at Asheville                       

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill                    

North Carolina State University                            

University of Oregon                                                           

SUNY–Binghamton University                                

SUNY–University at Buffalo                                                

SUNY–College at Geneseo                                     

Texas A&M University                                                         

Truman State University                                         

University of Utah                                                    

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin—Madison 

Private

Brigham Young University

Centre College

The Cooper Union

Earlham College

Florida Southern College

Guilford College

McGill University

Mount Holyoke College

Oglethorpe University

Olin College of Engineering

Principia College

Rice University

University of St Andrews

St. Olaf College

University of the South (Sewanee)

Warren Wilson College

Wheaton College (IL)

Xavier University of Louisiana

Fiske Guide to Colleges 2018 (ISBN: 9781402260681; JULY 11, 2017; U.S.; College Guide/Reference; Trade Paper) celebrates the 34th anniversary of the popular college guide, created by former New York Times education editor, Edward B. Fiske, the top independent voice in college admissions.