Keene State Is Named a Top Regional College by US News and World Report

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 2022-23 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: #11
• Top Public Schools: #7
• Best Value College: #10
• Best Colleges for Veterans: #4
• Top Performers on Social Mobility: #39

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. 11 regional ranking was out of 54 regional 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 that 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 3,099 (fall 2020) 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:

• Sixty-seven percent of full-time undergraduates receive need-based financial aid, and the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $7,228.
• The student-faculty ratio is 15:1; 51.1% of the college’s classes have fewer than 20 students.
• The average first-year student retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 74 percent.
• The college offers a range of majors and fields of study, including Education, Safety Studies; Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians; Social Sciences; Holocaust and Genocide Studies; Visual and Performing Arts; Architecture; Psychology; Business Management; Health Professions, including Nursing; Criminal Justice; Theater and Dance; Firefighting and Related Protective Services; and Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies.

To learn more about educational opportunities and student support services for veterans, click here.

To view the full rankings report, click here.