Harvard is the third best deal for students looking to get the most for their money in a college, according to newly-released U.S. News & World Report rankings.

In the U.S. News “Best Value” ranking, Harvard placed behind the California Institute of Technology and Princeton, respectively.

For a college to be considered in the race for Best Value, it has to finish in the top half of its category in the US News’ America’s Best Colleges 2003 rankings, in which Harvard tied at second place with Yale.

In the Best Value rankings, Yale is number eight.

To determine which college gives its students the best education for their money, U.S. News compared three variables that connect academics and financial aid, according to U.S. News’ website.

The first is the college’s quality-to-price ratio—a number derived from the college’s U.S. News ranking divided by the tuition paid by a student receiving an average financial aid package.

According to the rankings, a Harvard education costs $15,468 to a student with an average financial aid package.

The second variable is the percentage of undergraduates who received need-based financial aid grants during the 2001-02 school year—46 percent at Harvard, according to U.S. News.

Finally, U.S. News calculates what percent of total tuition the average financial aid package covers.

“The rankings tell people what the best values are. The schools that rank highly tend to have a significant discount,’’ said Richard Folkers, director of media relations for U.S. News & World Report.

Some of the Best Value rankings differ dramatically from the Best College rankings, released earlier this month.

Rice University is the fifth best value, but ranked at number 15 in the Best Colleges competition.

The University of Texas, Austin ranks 12 for best value, but was number 47 of the top 50 colleges.

“The results are strictly statistical fact. We decide on methodology and report what comes out,” Folkers said. “There’s nothing subjective; it’s looking at numbers and reporting them.

“We produce this book not to make colleges happy but to help students and families looking to make a good decision,” he continued.

According to Marlyn McGrath Lewis ’70-’73, director of admissions for Harvard College, the information these rankings provide is more significant than the rankings themselves.

“It’s lots of complicated data that’s reduced to a simplistic number. It can tell you a lot about how places compare in different vectors,” McGrath Lewis said.

“It’s one of the factors that has made consumers more sophisticated and knowledgeable about opportunities out there,” she said. “It’s a good thing for people looking at colleges. There’s nothing bad about information.”