Money magazine recently published its new list of best college rankings and Northwest University (NU) in Kirkland ranked No. 20 among the most affordable private colleges in the nation. NU was the only university from Washington State to make the list.

Money also listed NU No. 21 of Colleges that “add the most value,” ahead of University of Notre Dame, Cornell, Seattle University, and Duke University.

“This new list by Money strongly demonstrates that we provide great value by offering a high-quality education to our students at a very competitive price,” said Northwest University President Dr. Joseph Castleberry. “This distinction belongs to our whole community, resulting from exceptional teamwork by the faculty as well as the administration and staff, and diligent student effort is also evidenced.”

Money determined this list by highlighting colleges that “help students do far better than would be expected from their academic and economic backgrounds.” For this list, Money ranked colleges based on grades for graduation rates, earnings, and student loan repayment.

According to Money’s College Ranking website, the lists were compiled using data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Education, Peterson’s, and the Money/College Measures calculations. When all of the computations were finalized, Money published the rankings to help students find “high quality schools that score best for affordability.” According to Money, colleges on these lists “tend not to load students or parents up with burdensome debt.”

But it wasn’t just costs that were used to determine rankings. Every school that made the most affordable list also had to excel in educational quality and alumni success. Additionally, to be considered for this list, schools had to fall into the top half of Money’s overall national university ranking. NU excelled here with a ranking of 157 out of 705 universities. Other private universities in the Puget Sound area were also ranked, including Seattle Pacific (274), Seattle University (296), Pacific Lutheran (313), and University of Puget Sound (551).

Northwest University is a regionally accredited, Christian institution awarding associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.