A college degree has long been viewed as the ticket to a good-paying job. However, a high price tag, student loans, a tight job market, and a rise in lucrative careers in the trades have many Americans questioning whether college is worth it anymore.
For one thing, college can be a major investment. In the 2024-2025 school year, students paid an average of $11,610 for annual tuition at a public four-year college—36% more than 20 years ago, and 102% more than what their parents paid in the mid-1990s. Private school costs also exploded, rising 30% in the last 20 years to $43,350 annually.
While student loans can make those costs manageable in the short term, student loan debt continues to rise. In 2024, graduates owed a whopping $1.78 trillion, the highest amount on record. That averaged to $38,375 per person in federal student loans that take about 20 years to pay off.
Of course, college still offers significant rewards. Median weekly earnings for a graduate with a bachelor's degree were $1,543 in 2024, nearly 66% higher than someone with only a high school diploma, and the annual wage premium for a college graduate is $30,000. Job security is also better for college graduates, who have a 2.5% unemployment rate compared to 4.2% for high school graduates.
With that in mind, it's not surprising that college enrollment numbers are on the upswing, even with increasing doubts about the payoff of higher education. Although down from a peak of 18.1 million in 2010, undergraduate enrollment in the last five years has steadily ticked up to 16 million in 2024.
So, what schools are worth applying to? To find out, Stacker compiled a list of the best colleges in the Philadelphia area using data from Niche. Niche uses nine weighted factors for its rankings. A majority of the score is based on academics, value, and professors, but other factors include culture and diversity, campus and student life, and student surveys.
