MACON, Ga. — Mercer University is one of the nation’s Best Value Colleges for 2025, combining exceptional education and career preparation at a relatively affordable price, according to The Princeton Review®.
The Princeton Review chose 209 schools for its 2025 list, released on June 24, based on data from its surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges during the 2024-25 academic year. Survey topics covered academics, cost, financial aid, graduation rates, student debt and more.
The company also factored in data from its surveys of students attending the schools, as well as data from PayScale.com’s surveys of alumni of the schools about their starting and mid-career salaries and job satisfaction.
“We congratulate Merer University along with all of the other exceptional institutions that made our Best Value Colleges for 2025 list,” said Rob Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review. “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.”
The Princeton Review does not rank the Best Value Colleges hierarchically on a single list, from 1 to 209. Mercer received an ROI rating of 88 on a scale of 1-99.
In the University’s profile, The Princeton Review’s editors praise the institution for being well-connected within central Georgia. Students surveyed said, “The Mercer name carries weight around the state when looking for job opportunities,” and there are also many openings for “work-based learning, where course credit is offered for doing research or internships with a certain department.”
Mercer was also ranked No. 15 on the list of Top 20 Best Schools for Making an Impact (Private Schools). The list is based on student survey responses to questions covering community service opportunities, student government, sustainability efforts and on-campus student engagement.
Survey-takers said the University’s students “are all engulfed in the Mercer community and find ways to reach out and give back,” and “want to make a change and to do well.”
The Princeton Review is also known for its other college rankings in dozens of categories, many of which are reported in its annual book, The Best Colleges, published in August.
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school–bound students as well as working professionals achieve their education and career goals through its many education services and products. These include online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors; online resources; a line of more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House; and dozens of categories of school rankings.
