Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranks Vanderbilt University as 17th best value out of more than 600 private universities. The list includes 100 private institutions for the 2009-10 academic year.

According to the Kiplinger article, the ranking measures academic quality and affordability, with academic quality accounting for two-thirds of the result. Other categories included in the rankings are admission rates, SAT/ACT scores, graduation rates, total cost, cost after aid and average debt after graduation.

The school with the best value was California Institute of Technology, second was Princeton University, third was Yale University and fourth was Rice University.

For the full list of rankings click here.

To view the Kiplinger article explaining their ranking system click here.