Forbes has released their annual ranking of the 650 best undergraduate institutions.

Vanderbilt ranked 53rd on the list. Maryville College ranked at number 401 and the University of Tennessee ranked at number 512. Forbes ranks Williams College in Massachusetts as the number 1 undergraduate college, followed by Princeton, then West Point (United States Military Academy).

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"The rankings are based on five general categories: Post Graduate success (30%), which evaluates alumni pay and prominence, Student Satisfaction (27.5%), which includes professor evaluations and freshman to sophomore year retention rates, Debt (17.5%), which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates, Four Year Graduation Rate (17.5%) and Competitive Awards (7.5%), which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and fellowships like the Rhodes, the Marshall and the Fulbright."

Forbes has also released their list of the top 100 best buy colleges.

"Our 100 Best Buy Colleges are calculated by taking their overall quality rank on Forbes annual list of America’s Top Colleges and dividing that by the school’s tuition (in-state where applicable) and fees."

The University of Tennessee doesn't make the list. The top three colleges are West Point, the Air Force Academy, and the Naval Academy. All no cost academies. Cooper Union in New York City is ranked number four. It is apparently also a no cost college, all students get full scholarships.

Berea College in Kentucky ranked number seven. Southern colleges in the top twenty-five also include University of Florida (11), University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (12), Florida State (13), New College of Florida-Sarasota (16), University of North Florida-Jacksonville (19), University of Mississippi (20), North Carolina State (22), University of North Carolina-Greensboro (24), and Appalachian State-Boone (25).