Here are the best colleges and universities in Colorado, categorized into two lists – research universities and liberal arts colleges – to help you find the right kind of school for you.
Fans of the outdoors will feel right at home in Colorado. With the Rocky Mountains, Colorado River, and even part of the Great Plains, you’re sure to find adventure in The Centennial State. Students looking to balance outdoor adventure with higher education can choose from over 40 colleges and universities offering associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees for an average in-state tuition of $10,800.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Colorado’s 28 public institutes include junior colleges, universities, the United States Air Force Academy, and the Colorado School of Mines, a research university that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Tuition for Colorado’s public schools ranges from $3,000 to $19,000, with many of the colleges and junior colleges starting at $4,000 and the universities at $8,000. Several of public colleges in Colorado enroll a large number of online students, including Colorado State University
.Colorado’s private institutions boast smaller class sizes and student populations. This category includes five religiously affiliated campuses. Private colleges in Colorado tend to be more expensive, ranging from $4,000 to $55,000 in tuition. There are several online colleges in Colorado that are categorized as private schools.
The University of Colorado, Boulder, a notable research institute, is ranked as the number one school in the state and has a student population of just over 32,000. Students can earn degrees in computer science and physics both through in-person courses and online learning. Influential Boulder alumni include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Academy Award-winning actor and director Robert Redford.
Prospective art students can check out Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, and those desiring a career in the medical field can look into the Institute of Business and Medical Careers.
To learn more, check out the best brick-and-mortar and online colleges in Colorado.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
We’ve identified 24 colleges and universities in Colorado that meet our criteria. This list of the top 30 colleges in Colorado below focuses on schools that offer bachelor’s degrees. The ranking features fully accredited public and private colleges and universities in Colorado.
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
74%
Student body
34K
Median SAT/ACT
1240/28
University of Colorado Boulder’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
76%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/28
University of Denver’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
69%
Student body
27K
Median SAT/ACT
1175/26
Colorado State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Acceptance
12%
Graduation
86%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1325/31
United States Air Force Academy’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
14%
Graduation
86%
Student body
2K
Colorado College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$20K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
83%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1355/30
Colorado School of Mines’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
48%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/24
University of Colorado Denver’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
52%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/22
University of Northern Colorado’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Student body
6K
Aspen University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
62%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1110/24
Regis University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
100%
Graduation
34%
Student body
<1K
Naropa University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
30%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
980/17
Metropolitan State University of Denver’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
44%
Student body
10K
University of Colorado Colorado Springs’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Graduation
23%
Student body
31K
Colorado Technical University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
38%
Student body
7K
Colorado Mesa University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
44%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1060/19
Fort Lewis College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
18%
Student body
4K
Community College of Denver’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
48%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/23
Western Colorado University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
100%
Graduation
29%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
990/19
Adams State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$18K
Graduation
61%
Student body
9K
Colorado Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
27%
Student body
3K
Colorado Mountain College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
99%
Graduation
39%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1010/20
Colorado State University Pueblo’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
22%
Student body
4K
Red Rocks Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
19%
Student body
4K
Pueblo Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Many of our 2022 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2021. That’s because we took a fundamentally different apporach. For 2021 we utilized our Concentrated Influence algorithm, designed to take away the size advantage larger schools have when we rank their faculty and alumni’s academic influence. Concentrated influence highlights smaller schools that are proportionally as successful as larger universities at cultivating influential alumni and faculty.