Keene State Named Top Regional College
Keene State College earned high marks from U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges rankings in five categories - this time, as part of the media company’s 2025 rankings among regional colleges in the North.
U.S. News & World Report is an American media company that publishes news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis.
Keene State rankings this year include:
- Regional Colleges North: #15 (tie)
- Top Public Schools: #11 (tie)
- Best Value College: #9
- Best Colleges for Veterans: #9
- Top Performers on Social Mobility: #49 (tie)
Regional colleges in the North are in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Maryland. See more details about Keene State’s distinctions from U.S. News and World Report.
Keene State’s No. 15 regional ranking was out of 68 colleges in the North Region, according to U.S. News and World Report. Colleges are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.
The best-value calculation considers a college’s academic quality and net cost of attendance for an out-of-state student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. Only colleges ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included because U.S. News and World Report considers the most significant values to be among colleges that are above average academically.
“Keene State is proud of this recognition and buoyed by it because it confirms the collective vision and hard work that is our ambition,” Keene State President Melinda Treadwell said. “It does not happen by accident. We like to think we do a great job of producing workforce-ready thinkers and doers and doing that takes a team of dedicated and passionate students, faculty, and staff.”
A public institution founded in 1909, Keene State has an undergraduate enrollment of 2,735 (fall 2023) and utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. The college, set at the foot of the city of Keene’s downtown, offers more than 40 areas of undergraduate study in the liberal arts, social sciences, sciences, and professional programs, as well as selected graduate degrees.
Ranking strengths cited for Keene State include:
- 40% of students are first-generation
- Student-faculty ratio is 16:1
- College graduate earnings compared to a high-school graduate.
- Peer assessment score.
- First-year retention rate of 78%
- Ratio of student debt compared to other institutions.
To learn more about the rankings, click here.
