How Kollegio ranks colleges

Kollegio publishes 73 national college rankings and 49 state rankings. Instead of a single prestige score, each ranking orders colleges on one thing students care about: outcomes, cost, selectivity, campus community, type of college, field of study or location.

Where the data comes from

Our rankings are built from published data, not reputation surveys. The core source is the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, which reports federal data for colleges that take part in federal student aid programs: retention and graduation rates, graduates’ earnings, average net price, student debt and federal loan use, enrollment and the makeup of the student body.

We combine it with the admissions and cost data on each college’s Kollegio profile, such as acceptance rates, test scores and tuition.

What each ranking measures

Outcomes

What happens after students enroll: how many stay and graduate, what graduates go on to earn, and the return on what college costs.

Affordability

What college costs after financial aid, how much aid students receive, how much debt graduates leave with, and how affordable a college is for lower-income families.

Selectivity

How competitive admission is, based on acceptance rates and the test scores of admitted students.

Student body

The learning environment and community, such as the student-to-faculty ratio and student diversity.

Type of college

Colleges compared with others of the same kind, such as public universities, private colleges, liberal arts colleges, research universities, HBCUs and women’s colleges.

Majors and fields of study

The strongest colleges for a field of study, among the colleges that offer it.

States

The top-ranked colleges located in each state.

How the lists work

Each ranking is one ordered list. The filters on a ranking page, such as location, type of college and campus setting, narrow the list but never change the order.
State versions of a ranking, such as the best colleges for nursing in Ohio, show the national ranking limited to colleges in that state, so each college keeps its national order.
National rankings include about 1,400 U.S. colleges. Rankings for a major or a type of college include the colleges that fit it.

How to use these rankings

Rankings are a starting point, not a verdict. The right college depends on your goals, budget and academic profile. Federal data is also published with a delay, and not every college reports every measure, so a college can be missing from a ranking and still be a great fit for you.

Take Kollegio’s free college quiz to get a list of colleges matched to your own profile.

Corrections

If you represent a college and think the data on your profile or in a ranking is wrong, email support@kollegio.ai and we’ll review it.