BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Champlain College is one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review, the widely-known education services company. The Princeton Review has chosen the college for inclusion in the forthcoming edition of its popular annual "best colleges" guidebook, "The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition" (Random House / Princeton Review Books) which will be available in bookstores in early August. (The 2011 edition is shown at right)

"We chose Champlain College as one of our "best" undergraduate colleges based on several criteria we consider when reviewing schools for this book," said Robert Franek, senior vice president of publishing for The Princeton Review. "First, we must have a high regard for their academic programs and other offerings. Second, our selections take into account institutional data we collect from the schools and the opinions of their students attending them whom we survey. We also greatly value the feedback we get about schools from our college-savvy staff across the country as well as from students, educators and parents who use our services and books."

Champlain College President David F. Finney, on hearing the news, said, "This recognition is a reflection of everyone at Champlain College for a continued commitment to providing the most student-centric, professionally-focused, education in the country." 

Says Franek, "Only about 15% of the colleges in the nation are in this book, and they vary considerably by region, size, selectivity and character. It includes public and private schools, traditional and non-traditional colleges, historically black colleges and universities, and science and technology-focused institutions. However, each one is an outstanding institution we highly recommend to college applicants and their parents. In our opinion, these are ‘the crème of the crop' institutions for undergraduates in America."

In Franek's letter to Champlain announcing the decision, he wrote, "It was a great pleasure reviewing your school's impressive credentials. You have much to brag about!" He noted Champlain is one of only six institutions that will be added to the 2012 edition.

Ian Mortimer, Vice President of Enrollment Management at Champlain, says in his experience, "It is rare that an institution gets selected for this listing during its first application and lobbying effort; it usually takes a few tries. However, our story and data were very compelling."

"The last step of The Princeton Review's process is capturing the real student experience and evaluating it against other institutions in the top 15 percent," Mortimer added. "More than 200 Champlain students provided information on our college to the Review, and their stories and critical feedback are what sealed the deal; they told their story and the Review was impressed."

The Princeton Review's annual "Best Colleges" guide is the only college guidebook that has both two-page profiles on the schools and college ranking lists of "top 20 schools" in 62 categories. The ranking lists are entirely based on The Princeton Review's surveys of more than 122,000 students at the 376 schools in the book who rate their own schools and report on their experiences at them. Among the ranking categories are lists of colleges in the book at which students most highly (or least highly) rated their administrators, their career centers and their athletic facilities. Other categories reflect campus and study body political leanings, race/class relations, LGBT acceptance, participation in sports, and religion. The Princeton Review as a company does not rank the colleges in the book hierarchically, 1 to 376, either for academics - the company believes all 376 schools are first-rate, academically - or by any other category.

The book also has unique ratings - scores from 60 to 99 - on each college's profile in eight categories including Financial Aid, Fire Safety, and Green: a rating based on the college's environmental commitments. The rating scores are based on institutional data collected from the schools. "The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition" will be available online and in bookstores in early August.

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About Champlain College
Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers traditional undergraduate and online undergraduate courses, along with online certificate and degree programs and eight master's degree programs. Champlain offers study abroad programs at its campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges and was ranked in the top tier of 2011 Regional Colleges in the North. To learn more about Champlain College, visit www.champlain.edu.

About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review (Nasdaq: REVU) has been a pioneer and leader in helping students achieve their higher education goals for more than 28 years through college and graduate school test preparation and private tutoring. With more than 165 print and digital publications and a free website, www.PrincetonReview.com, the Company provides students and their parents with the resources to research, apply to, prepare for, and learn how to pay for higher education. The Princeton Review partners with schools and guidance counselors throughout the U.S. to assist in college readiness, test preparation and career planning services, helping more students pursue postsecondary education. The Company also owns and operates Penn Foster Education Group, a global leader in online education. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University and not a magazine.

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Media Contacts:
• For Champlain College, Stephen Mease, 802-865-6432, smease@champlain.edu

• For Princeton Review Books: Jeanne Krier, 212-539-1350, jeanne@jeannekrier.com