Public colleges and universities account for almost 75 percent of all undergraduate students in the U.S. The best public colleges in Colorado provide broad access to reputable degree programs, affordable tuition, and sprawling educational communities.
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.
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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. With smaller class sizes and student populations, Colorado’s private institutions, which includes five religiously affiliated campuses, tend to be more expensive, ranging from $4,000 to $55,000 in tuition. 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 and, once graduated, can share alumni status with influential people, such as Steve Wozniak and 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 degree programs and top career opportunities offered in Colorado.
Public and private colleges and universities operate under different business models — one is a private company with private funding; the other is owned by the state and receives both state and federal funding to operate. If you’re weighing the pros and cons of private vs. public college, consider that many public colleges provide diverse course offerings, influential professors, and an excellent return on your investment.
Public colleges are schools that receive most of their funding from tax revenues. As a result, the cost of a four-year degree at a public university is often lower than the equivalent cost at a private college — especially for students attending a public school in their home state. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the average annual cost (tuition, fees, room and board for full-time students) at a four-year public university was slightly over $20,000. In contrast, private universities cost, on average, nearly $43,000 annually.
The following list of Colorado’s best public colleges and universities is composed entirely of schools offering four-year undergraduate degree programs. We’ve identified 17 public universities in Colorado; 10 that satisfy the following three conditions:
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Acceptance
13%
Graduation
87%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1335/30
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United States Air Force Academy’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
44%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1110/23
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University of Colorado Denver’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
72%
Student body
34K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/28
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University of Colorado Boulder’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Acceptance
55%
Graduation
84%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1310/30
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Colorado School of Mines’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
70%
Student body
29K
Median SAT/ACT
1180/26
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Colorado State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
52%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1085/22
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University of Northern Colorado’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
42%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/20
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Fort Lewis College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
45%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/23
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University of Colorado Colorado Springs’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
25%
Student body
3K
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Colorado Mountain College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
50%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/23
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Western Colorado University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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