Forbes Again Lists Scranton in Top Colleges in America

Forbes ranked The University of Scranton among “America’s Top Colleges” in its 2024-2025 ranking, published in September. This marks the 16^th year Scranton was included in the list of the nation’s elite schools. Scranton is the only college in Northeast Pennsylvania to be named among the just 500 colleges in the nation listed. Scranton, ranked No. 399, was among just 27 colleges in Pennsylvania that Forbes selected as “America’s Top Colleges.”

The ranking by Forbes analyzed “outputs” of a college education, weighting alumni salaries at six years and 10 years after graduation the most, representing 20 percent of the overall score. The methodology used by Forbes also looked at graduation rates (15 percent), student debt (15 percent) and the number of alumni making the Forbes “American Leaders” lists (15 percent), such as its “Forbes 400” and “Richest Self-Made Women” lists, as well as alumni who won national and international awards or positions, such as winners of the Nobel Prize. Forbes also calculated a “return on investment” (15 percent) based on net cost for a college and the “post-enrollment earnings boost” compared to high school graduates in that state. Forbes also looked at retention rate (10 percent) and academic success (10 percent), as measured by alumni winning prestigious academic scholarships, such as Fulbright and Truman scholarships.

In other recent national rankings, The Princeton Review included Scranton in its list of “Best Colleges” for 23 consecutive years, and ranked the University No. 17 in the nation for “Best Science Lab Facilities,” No. 23 in the nation for “Students Most Engaged in Community Service” and No. 23 in the country for “Best-Run Colleges.”