Princeton University leads the pack in New Jersey. Is number two Rutgers or The College of New Jersey?
PRINCETON -- Princeton University trails only two other schools in a new national ranking of America's best colleges, based on return on investment.
The Ivy League university ranked third in America's Top Colleges 2016, a list generated by Forbes magazine.
Only Stanford University and Williams College, a private liberal arts college in Massachusetts, are ranked higher than Princeton.
Forbes compiles the list annually with a focus on return on investment. It's designed to give prospective students a snapshot of the best schools to attend if they want to get a good job and graduate on time without incurring substantial debt.
No other New Jersey college or university is ranked in the top 100 nationally, but Rutgers and The College of New Jersey both ranked within the top 200. Browse the photo gallery above to see the top 10 colleges in New Jersey based on the Forbes ranking.
The rankings are based on data from the U.S. Department of Education and other sources on post-graduate pay and alumni success, according to Forbes. Learn more about the methodology here.
Princeton, which has a sticker price of $61,160, was ranked as the second-best college in the Northeast and the second-best research university. Most students from middle-class and low-income families receive grants from the university so they are able to graduate without student debt.
Harvard University is ranked fourth in the national rankings, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology earned the final spot in the top five.
Yale University is sixth, followed by Pomona College, Brown University, Wesleyan University and Swarthmore College.
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