Bradley University was named a “Best Bet” college in a new guidebook, The Financial Aid Handbook: Getting the Education You Want for the Price You Can Afford.
Authors Carol Stack and Ruth Vedvik have compiled a list of 60 selective U.S. colleges where average student loan burdens don’t exceed $8,000 per year and where average grants exceed average loans.
“Every single school we list is a wonderful place to get an education,” Stack and Vedvik said.
The profile of Bradley compares the university to Goldilocks’ chair – not too big and not too small – just the right size. Bradley is large enough to have separate career-oriented colleges – business, communications, education and engineering, in addition to liberal arts – and Division I athletics, yet small enough that students text their professors with questions, the guidebook found. Bradley students receive academic and curricular options available at large universities on a campus with just 5,000 undergraduates.
Among the University’s strengths, the profile said, are Bradley’s connection with the business community – there are a plethora of centers and institutes on campus that provide services to business from construction to small businesses to executive development – and Bradley’s high degree of “connectedness” for students, including Internet2 access.
U.S. News & World Report recognized Bradley as the top Illinois university of its type and number six overall among Midwest universities providing a full range of undergraduate and master’s programs. The university is ranked fifth on the list of Best Values and is one of 15 schools in the country singled out for internships and co-ops. Bradley also has been identified for excellence by The Princeton Review, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Peterson’s college guide, and Forbes.com.
Among the other institutions identified as being a “best bet” were Southern Methodist University in Dallas; Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles; Elon University in Elon, North Carolina.; Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia; and St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
Stack and Vedvik are both veteran college admission officers and have worked at a national college enrollment consulting firm that works with admission and financial aid offices across the country. Together, they have more than 70 years of experience in the college admission process. Their book was published by Career Press.
Bradley is a private, independent university in Peoria, Illinois, offering 6,000 students the choice of more than 100 academic programs. This size provides students extensive resources not available at most small colleges and the personal attention not commonly found at large universities.