Feb 11, 2015 11:35 AM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

In the current economy, paying for college is on the forefront of many prospective students and their families' minds.

That could well be causing many high schoolers to aim high, as the Princeton Review's list of "Colleges that Pay You Back" are among some of the most elite and selective schools in the country. The upside of these schools, however, is they often have the financial power to help students in need.

For example, MIT (2) will cover tuition for students whose families earn less than $75,000 per year. The average need-based financial aid for freshmen at Harvey Mudd (3) is $39,000+. Graduates from Cooper Union (1) earn an average of more than $60,000 for their starting salaries, a figure that doubles by mid-career.

"We strongly recommend these schools. They deliver outstanding academics while working to be affordable to students with need - offering generous financial aid or charging a relatively low cost of attendance (or both)," Robert Franek, the Princeton Review's senior vice president and publisher, said in a press release. "Plus their students graduate with great career prospects."

Franek is also the lead author on the "Colleges that Pay You Back" book, which ranks and profiles the top 200 schools. Here are the top 10, but you can click here to see the top 50.

1.     Cooper Union

Location: New York, N.Y.

School type: Private

Acceptance rate: 15 percent

2.     Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Location: Cambridge, Mass.

School type: Private

Acceptance rate: 8 percent

3.     Harvey Mudd College

Location: Claremont, Calif.

School type: Private

Acceptance rate: 8 percent

4.     Stanford University

Location: Stanford, Calif.

School type: Private

Acceptance rate: 5 percent

5.     Princeton University

Location: Princeton, N.J.

School type: Ivy League

Acceptance rate: 8 percent

6.     California Institute of Technology

Location: Pasadena, Calif.

School type: Private

Acceptance rate: 11 percent

7.     Harvard College

Location: Cambridge, Mass.

School type: Ivy League

Acceptance rate: 6 percent

8.     Yale University

Location: New Haven, Conn.

School type: Ivy League

Acceptance rate: 7 percent

9.     Dartmouth College

Location: Hanover, N.H.

School type: Ivy League

Acceptance rate: 10 percent

10.  Williams College

Location: Williamstown, Mass.

School type: Private

Acceptance rate: 19 percent

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