During our D’s college search, we found the Forbes magazine top college list to be among the most useful tools. Their latest rankings for 2017 were recently released and can be found in their entirety here https://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/#5cb3720e1987.
Their ranking methodology is explained in the article here https://www.forbes.com/sites/cartercoudriet/2017/08/02/top-colleges-2017-the-methodology/#5663c9d0e44a.
One feature we found particularly helpful was the Forbes Financial Grade on each college as described here https://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2017/08/02/2017-college-financial-grades-how-fit-is-your-school/#178a27b67d68.
While there is a lot of focus on the financial fitness of families to afford certain colleges for their children, we felt it is also important to consider the financial health of colleges our D considered applying to as well, with the premise that a college in strong financial condition is in a better position to provide grant aid to students and have well-maintained facilities than a college that is struggling to pay its expenses.