America's best bang for the buck colleges 2015: our exclusive list of schools that help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.

• Author: Kelchen, Robert

This is the fourth year in a row we've produced a set of rankings that rewards colleges that do a good job of conferring degrees on lower- and middle-income students while charging them reasonable prices. This "Best Bang for the Buck" measure has evolved over time, from an article highlighting a small number of colleges with great outcomes in the first year to a stand-alone list of several hundred colleges performing well on access, affordability, and completion metrics.

The national discussion about college value has also changed. Two years ago, President Barack Obama was vowing to rate the nation's colleges and universities based on metrics very similar to our Best Bang for the Buck rankings. Earlier this summer, however, the administration raised the white flag after bitter protests from the college lobbying community and threats from Congress to defund the endeavor. It now says it will merely provide more and better data and let private outfits do the grading. This means that if you want to know which colleges in America provide the best value for ordinary, non-wealthy students, the Washington Monthly is the only game in town!

We'll incorporate the government's new data, if it's valuable, into future rankings. But we're not standing still this year. For a new book we just published, The Other College Guide: A Roadmap to the Right School for You (New Press), we've revised our Best Bang for the Buck rankings to include all four-year colleges covered in our regular rankings, not just the few hundred top ones. To do so, we changed our methodology slightly (a detailed methodology can be found at washingtonmonthly.com). Instead of creating a short list of schools that met our minimum performance standards (on student loan default rate, graduation rate, graduation rate performance, and the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants) and then ranking those schools by their net price of attendance (how much students pay for college after grants and scholarships), we ranked all colleges by those performance criteria and then considered net price. We've also grouped colleges by region to make the rankings easier for students to use--80 percent of students choose colleges near where they live. You can see the top fifty colleges and universities from each region beginning on page 28 and the rest (including the schools that don't rank so well) on our website, washingtonmonthly.com.

The first thing you'll notice is that the top-ranked colleges within each region (College of the Ozarks, the City University of New York's Bernard Baruch College, Berea College in Kentucky, East Carolina University in North Carolina, and the University of Washington's main Seattle campus) are a mix of household names and relatively unknown institutions. But the stories behind these colleges and their strong performances are fascinating. For example, Berea College primarily serves students from low-income families and does not charge tuition, thanks to a large endowment and generous donors, resulting in a negative net price for the neediest students and a 64 percent graduation rate. East Carolina University, however, relies on the state of North Carolina's traditional strong support for higher education in order to keep tuition low. At East Carolina, nearly 60 percent of students graduate, 31 percent receive Pell Grants, and just 3 percent default on their loans. Berea and East Carolina are not found in the top fifty of the U.S. News rankings, but they are a great value for students who can gain admission.

While all of the colleges near the top of the list do a good job of serving a broad swath of the population at a reasonable price, this is not necessarily the case for colleges near the bottom of the list. Many University of Phoenix branch campuses show up near the bottom of the lists, and for good reason. Graduation rates are typically below 25 percent, one in six students default on their loans within two years of beginning repayment, and the net price per year is around $200. Although much of the for-profit college sector has faced scrutiny for poor outcomes and high prices, students should also be wary of some of the public and private nonprofit colleges with similarly poor outcomes.

Robert Kelchen (@rkelchen) is an assistant professor of higher education in the Department of Education Leadership, Management and Policy at Seton Hall University.

BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK MIDWEST COLLEGES OVERALL Student loan Graduation SCORE default rate rate 1 College of the Ozarks 13 0% 61% (MO) 2 Grace Bible College 13 1% 50% (MI) 3 Martin Luther College 12 1% 72% (MN) 4 Illinois State University 12 3% 71% (IL) * 5 Northland International 12 1% 66% University (WI) 6 University of 11 5% 51% Michigan-Dearborn (MI) * 7 Wayne State College 11 6% 50% (NE) * 8 University of Illinois at 11 3% 55% Chicago (IL) * 9 Pittsburg State 11 7% 52% University (KS) * 10 Michigan State University 11 4% 78% (MI) * 11 Eastern Illinois 11 4% 60% University (IL) * 12 Western Michigan 11 5% 55% University (MI) * 13 Huntington University 11 2% 61% (IN) 14 Maharishi Univ. of Mgmt. 11 4% 60% (IA) 15 Bethel College-Mishawaka 11 6% 58% (IN) 16 Hanover College (IN) 11 2% 67% 17 Ripon College (WI) 11 3% 71% 18 Univ. of Wisconsin-Green 10 3% 52% Bay (WI) * 19 Univ. of 10 3% 60% Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI) * 20 Indiana 10 4% 73% University-Bloomington (IN) * 21 Univ. of Wisconsin-Eau 10 2% 65% Claire (WI) * 22 Univ. of Wisconsin-La 10 1% 69% Crosse (WI) * 23 Marygrove College (MI) 10 5% 25% 24 University of 10 5% 59% Illinois-Springfield (IL) * 25 South Dakota State 10 3% 56% University (SD) * 26 Graceland 10 6% 50% University-Lamoni (IA) 27 University of Northern 10 3% 67% Iowa (IA) * 28 University of Iowa (IA) * 10 3% 70% 29 Western Illinois 10 6% 55% University (IL) * 30 University of 10 2% 90% Michigan-Ann Arbor (MI) * 31 Grand Valley State 10 3% 63% University (MI) * 32 Hannibal-LaGrange 10 4% 50% University (MO) 33 University of 10 1% 82% Wisconsin-Madison (WI) * 34 Baker Coll. Ctr. Graduate 10 0% 30% Studies (MI) 35 Ursuline College (OH) 10 4% 50% 36 Saint Mary-of-the-Woods 10 5% 57% College (IN) 37 Dominican University (IL) 10 5% 65% 38 Maranatha Baptist Bible 10 1% 51% College (WI) 39 Grace College & 10 2% 58% Theological Seminary (IN) 40 Univ. of St. Francis-Fort 10 5% 54% Wayne (IN) 41 Concordia 10 3% 56% University-Chicago (IL) 42 National Louis University 10 3% 30% (IL) 43 Robert Morris University 10 5% 47% Illinois (IL) 44 Marian University (IN) 10 4% 58% 45 Simpson College (IA) 10 3% 68% 46 Ohio State University- 10 4% 80% Main (OH) * 47 Goshen College (IN) 10 4% 71% 48 Baldwin Wallace 10 2% 70% University (OH) 49 Elmhurst College (IL) 10 2% 71% 50 Earlham College (IN) 10 3% 70% Graduation Students rate receiving performance Pell Grants 1 College of the Ozarks 25% 61% (MO) 2 Grace Bible College 6% 59% (MI) 3 Martin Luther College 10% 34% (MN) 4 Illinois State University 6% 24% (IL) * 5 Northland International 25% 57% University (WI) 6 University of 0% 41% Michigan-Dearborn (MI) * 7 Wayne State College 2% 40% (NE) * 8 University of Illinois at -1% 46% Chicago (IL) * 9 Pittsburg State 10% 41% University (KS) * 10 Michigan State University 9% 25% (MI) * 11 Eastern Illinois 9% 35% University (IL) * 12 Western Michigan 5% 36% University (MI) * 13 Huntington University 9% 36% (IN) 14 Maharishi Univ. of Mgmt. 9% 64% (IA) 15 Bethel College-Mishawaka 9% 52% (IN) 16 Hanover College (IN) 11% 44% 17 Ripon College (WI) 6% 34% 18 Univ. of Wisconsin-Green -2% 31% Bay (WI) * 19 Univ. of 1% 32% Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI) * 20 Indiana 6% 19% University-Bloomington (IN) * 21 Univ. of Wisconsin-Eau 0% 26% Claire (WI) * 22 Univ. of Wisconsin-La 1% 22% Crosse (WI) * 23 Marygrove College (MI) 5% 72% 24 University of 6% 35% Illinois-Springfield (IL) * 25 South Dakota State 2% 28% University (SD) * 26 Graceland 2% 38% University-Lamoni (IA) 27 University of Northern 5% 26% Iowa (IA) * 28 University of Iowa (IA) * 1% 18% 29 Western Illinois 6% 36% University (IL) * 30 University of 5% 16% Michigan-Ann Arbor (MI) * 31 Grand Valley State 1% 34% University (MI) * 32 Hannibal-LaGrange 0% 36% University (MO) 33 University of 5% 16% Wisconsin-Madison (WI) * 34 Baker Coll. Ctr. Graduate 5% 52% Studies (MI) 35 Ursuline College (OH) 6% 50% 36 Saint Mary-of-the-Woods 17% 45% College (IN) 37 Dominican University (IL) 5% 40% 38 Maranatha Baptist Bible 4% 46% College (WI) 39 Grace College & 9% 31% Theological Seminary (IN) 40 Univ. of St. Francis-Fort 8% 42% Wayne (IN) 41 Concordia 0% 40% University-Chicago (IL) 42 National Louis University 8% 52% (IL) 43 Robert Morris University 8% 65% Illinois (IL) 44 Marian University (IN) 6% 40% 45 Simpson College (IA) 6% 30% 46 Ohio State University- 9% 24% Main (OH) * 47 Goshen College (IN) 7% 33% 48 Baldwin Wallace 5% 30% University (OH) 49 Elmhurst College (IL) 7% 32% 50 Earlham College (IN) 7% 27% Net price Net price (all students) (annual family income $0- $30,000 1 College of the Ozarks 10393 10078 (MO) 2 Grace Bible College 14194 12882 (MI) 3 Martin Luther College 13845 11533 (MN) 4 Illinois State University 14591 9635 (IL) * 5 Northland International 15991 12461 University (WI) 6 University of 8284 5318 Michigan-Dearborn (MI) * 7 Wayne State College 9197 6767 (NE) * 8 University of Illinois at 9600 7600 Chicago (IL) * 9 Pittsburg State 9904 9542 University (KS) * 10 Michigan State University 13641 5922 (MI) * 11 Eastern Illinois 13966 10504 University (IL) * 12 Western Michigan 14663 11351 University (MI) * 13 Huntington University 17094 15252 (IN) 14 Maharishi Univ. of Mgmt. 17364 15915 (IA) 15 Bethel College-Mishawaka 17880 13354 (IN) 16 Hanover College (IN) 18230 11585 17 Ripon College (WI) 19321 12000 18 Univ. of Wisconsin-Green 9005 6254 Bay (WI) * 19 Univ. of 10108 6880 Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI) * 20 Indiana 10481 4094 University-Bloomington (IN) * 21 Univ. of Wisconsin-Eau 10872 7129 Claire (WI) * 22 Univ. of Wisconsin-La 11344 7647...