The 50 best colleges for your money

Attending college is expensive, especially for families taking out thousands of dollars in student loans.

Thankfully, there are dozens of affordable public and private schools that offer financial aid to students in need.

We compiled the 50 best colleges for your money, according to Niche, with MIT landing the top spot.

As another college semester is set to begin, students are getting ready to pick courses, find the right residence hall, and buy dorm supplies. Their parents, meanwhile, have already taken out their checkbooks, or maybe even thousands of dollars in student loans.

Attending a four-year university requires a long-term financial commitment, which sometimes lasts for decades. Some families are forced to take out student loans, but they never see a return on their investment. Other families let their children skip college altogether to join a trade school. And according to experts, college tuition is only going to keep rising.

Thankfully, some private universities offer generous financial aid packages, while many states offer financial aid to resident students in need. We looked at Niche.com's ranking for the best value schools, which measures value based on tuition, net price (the average cost after financial aid for students receiving grant or scholarship aid), and average income of alumni six years after graduating. The schools with only one tuition rate listed are private, and the schools with both in-state and out-of-state tuition are public.

Here are the 50 best colleges in America for your dollar.