Founded in 1781, Washington & Jefferson College is one of the oldest four-year liberal arts schools in the country. Its campus, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh, is home to some 1,400 undergrads.
The estimated price of a degree at Washington & Jefferson is below the median of all the schools on our list, thanks in part to the fact that W&J gives out grants to nearly all of its students. The college offers 60 areas of study, including majors in art education, conservation biology, sports economics and public relations. Students can also enroll in pre-professional programs and other academic options, such as a dual-degree engineering program in which students spend their first three years at W&J before heading to a partner engineering school like Columbia or Case Western Reserve for two more, then graduating with both a BA and a BS.
Students get a lot of attention and opportunities for exploration at this small school. W&J has a low student-faculty ratio of 11:1 and says most of its classes have fewer than 20 students. During “MayTerm,” a one- to three-week term in May, students choose a single topic to study in-depth, and the session is often used to travel domestically or abroad with faculty. W&J also has a summer research program called the Magellan Project that gives money to students so they can carry out independent research projects or internships.
