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For many students, the prospect of financing a college education presents a daunting challenge. Recent studies have found that the average student graduates from school with around $23,000 in loan debt. Combined with a tough economy that has contracted many Americans' household budgets and the uncertain job prospects that await students upon graduation, the situation only gets more complicated.

And to be sure, there are wide swings among colleges when it comes to their readiness to offer students financial assistance. In that spirit, the Princeton Review, a leading source of information for students who are researching and applying to colleges, has compiled a list of the schools that offer the best programs for helping students navigate the tangled landscape of financial aid. In alphabetical order, the 10 schools that earned the highest possible score of 99 in the Princeton Review's rankings are:

• Carleton College (Northfield, Minn.)
• Claremont McKenna College (Claremont, Calif.)
• Columbia University (New York, N.Y.)
• Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Needham, Mass.)
• Pomona College (Claremont, Calif.)
• Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.)
• Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Penn.)
• Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, Calif.)
• Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.)
• Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)

"We commend these schools for all they have done to meet the financial aid needs of their students," Robert Franek, the Princeton Review's senior vice president and publisher, said in a statement. "We also encourage applicants always to get current information about a school's financial aid offerings and never to cross a school off their list because of its sticker price: sometimes the most expensive colleges are the most generous with their grants and aid."

In compiling its list of the leading schools for financial aid, the Princeton Review evaluated the portion of the school's students deemed to need tuition assistance who received aid, the portion of their need that was met and the percentage of students' whose need was completely met. The researchers also considered the responses of students attending the schools about how satisfied they were with their aid packages.

That list is one of 62 rankings that Princeton Review compiled in its latest guidebook, the 2012 edition of "The Best 376 Colleges," drawn on extensive surveys of more than 122,000 students.

The Princeton Review also reported other findings that highlighted the concerns that students and their parents have about financing a college education. In its annual "College Hopes and Worries Survey," 72 percent of respondents said that the grim economy had influenced their choice of schools. In the same survey, 86 percent of respondents said that financial assistance would be "very necessary." The biggest worry that survey respondents cited was that they or their child "would get in to their first choice college, but not have sufficient funds to attend it."

Hit up the Feds before taking out private loans

Financial aid experts widely agree that students who will have to borrow to pay for their college education are advised to make use of the loan programs available through the federal government before taking on private loans for a variety of reasons.

"Students should exhaust federal student loan options first," said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. "Advantages include fixed interest rates, subsidized interest and forbearance options if you encounter financial hardship in future years."

The interest rate on federal loans, capped by the Department of Education through the Stafford, Perkins and Parent PLUS programs, is generally lower than what borrowers will be able to obtain through a private lender. Federal loan programs also generally offer more flexible repayment options than private institutions.

The least financial-aid friendly list

In its new book, the Princeton Review compiled a corollary list to the top 10 schools for financial aid, ranking the schools with the lowest scores on its rating system. Leading the "Financial Aid Not So Great List" were:

• Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Penn.)
• Quinnipiac University (Hamden, Conn.)
• New York University (New York, N.Y.)
• Elon University (Elon, N.C.)
• Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, Penn.)
• University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
• Sonoma State University (Rohnert Park, Calif.)
• DePaul University (Chicago, Ill.)
• Miami University (Oxford, Ohio.)
• Grove City College (Grove City, Penn.)

For related news and other information from Schools.com, see:

• 10 public colleges under $8,500 a year
• Pathfinder - Explore Career Paths & Related Degree Programs (interactive tool)
• More money for school: 5 tips for appealing your financial aid award
• The Princeton Review names Ohio University top party school in the U.S. 
• Avoid 7 Student Financial Aid Booby Traps