Baruch College was ranked as No. 2 in a list of “The 11 Best Value Colleges” in the United States by website ThoughtCo back in May.

ThoughtCo is a reference and informational website “with a 20+ year focus on expert-created education content,” as stated on the site’s “About Us” page.

The ranking lists 11 schools across the country that offer college students some of the best overall value for their time and money based on measurements of financial input and success output.

“The best value colleges and universities represent a broad range of schools, for ‘value’ is going to have different meaning for different students,” the article’s introduction read in part. “In broad terms, a school’s value is the measure of what you get for your money. The actual measure of value, however, is complicated and needs to take numerous measures into account.”

Schools were decided upon after looking at the costs of both in-state and out-of-state tuition, how much financial aid students and their families often receive and how much money students generally pay after financial aid.

“A school’s cost, for example, is just a small piece of the equation, and cost is not a straight-forward measure of value,” the article reads in part. “Some public universities have low tuition, but they may be lacking in financial aid resources. An extremely expensive university such as Harvard, however, can afford to meet 100% of every student’s financial need without students relying on loans. For a student from a family with modest income, an Ivy League school is likely to be less expensive than the local community college.”

Additionally, ThoughtCo looked at how many students from each school graduate from bachelor’s programs within the standard four years, how many graduates find jobs after graduation and how soon they find them and, finally, how much graduates get paid in early- and mid-career jobs.

Schools that have graduates with the highest salaries, on average, are colleges with STEM, science, technology, engineering and math, programs, as these tend to be some of the highest paying jobs nowadays, as ThoughtCo pointed out.

ThoughtCo called CUNY overall a bargain and accessible due to the comparatively low tuition and the fact that most students commute to campus, rather than dorm.

As for Baruch specifically, the ranking cites the college’s selectivity as part of its high value, since it has only a 43% acceptance rate, which is lower than the other CUNY schools’ rates.

“Applicants are going to need above-average grades and standardized test scores to be admitted as you can see in the Baruch admissions profile,” the article read.

When it comes to the numbers, the ranking lists several points for the school: total on-campus cost instate is $33,798; total on-campus cost out-of-state is $41,748; 74% of students receive grant aid; an average grant award is $9,657; the average net cost for grant recipients is $3,931; the average early-career pay is $59,200 and average mid-career pay is $111,000.