Claudia Dreifus, a New York Times writer and an adjunct professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and Andrew Hacker, a veteran political science professor at Queens College in New York, spent three years interviewing faculty, students, and administrators and crunching statistics for their book, Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids — And What We Can Do About It.

Plus, the authors recommend schools that are lower in cost, student centered, led by idealists, and have good core values. Here are some they like:

• University of Mississippi
• Raritan Valley Community College, New Jersey
• Cooper Union, New York
• Berea College, Kentucky
• Arizona State University
• University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• Western Oregon University
• Evergreen State College, Washington
• New College of Florida
• St. Mary’s College of Maryland
• Quest University, Canada
• Macaulay Honors College at City University of New York
• Any of the 26 public liberal arts colleges nationwide