Money Magazine selected the Massachusetts College of Art and Design as “one of America’s best colleges” in 2024. In a rigorous evaluation of more than 700 schools that looked at quality of education, affordability, and outcomes after graduation, MassArt stood out.

Quality of education was gauged in part by access to faculty and peer quality. Money Magazine points to research that indicates “students who get more individualized attention from faculty tend to achieve more, both in college and after graduation.” It also says “decades of research have shown that undergraduates have a major impact on their peers.”Peer quality indicators included standardized test scores and the GPAs of first-year students.

For affordability, the magazine looked at student borrowing, parent borrowing, the ability to repay, and the student loan default risk index. It’s a critical consideration. Surveys make clear that unaffordable debt is among students’ biggest worries about attending college, and  “research shows student debt can have long-lasting effects on young adults’ finances,” the magazine says. (It also points out that virtually every single MassArt student is the recipient of a need-based or merit-based grant.)

Outcomes focused on such factors as earnings 10 years after college entry and upward economic mobility.

Read more about Money Magazine’s Best Colleges.