Public colleges and universities account for almost 75 percent of all undergraduate students in the U.S. The best public colleges in Idaho provide broad access to reputable degree programs, affordable tuition, and sprawling educational communities.
Just over half of the 13 colleges and universities in Idaho are public schools. Boise State University, Idaho’s largest public university, serves roughly 17,000 students. Here, students can pursue degrees in fields like communications, earth sciences, and engineering. Idaho is also home to five private schools, including the state’s largest school, Brigham Young University Idaho, which has a student population of nearly 49,000 students.
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While students at BYU school can expect to pay around $4,000 in tuition, well below the national average, the other private school tuition costs range between $13,000 to $30,000. The majority of Idaho’s colleges and universities can be considered small schools, serving student populations of 4,000 or less. However, the state’s largest schools offer the most affordable tuition fees, ranging from as little as $4,000 to $8,000. Students who pursue their degrees in Idaho can study fields like chemistry, law, and anthropology at the University of Idaho or religious studies, psychology, and literature at New Saint Andrews College. Additionally, Idaho offers a loan forgiveness program of up to $100,000 to physicians who work in the state’s rural areas.
French fries, mashed potatoes, tater tots, and even potato-inspired ice cream — Idaho is, as per its reputation, a potato lover’s dream. But it’s not all spuds in this state. Along with countless hiking trails, rivers perfect for rafting trips, and 72 types of gemstones, this state offers higher education institutes with competitive tuition fees and programs.
For more information, explore some of Idaho’s top programs and future career possibilities.
Public and private colleges and universities operate under different business models. Public colleges and universities are owned by the state and receive both state and federal funding to operate. Private colleges and universities are private companies with private funding. If you’re looking at the pros and cons of private vs. public colleges, 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 bachelor’s 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. Attending a college in-state is usually the cheapest option. Private universities and colleges can be very competitive with their funding opportunities, so do not simply believe that private colleges are always going to be more expensive. According to National Center for Educational Statistics, the average annual cost (tuition, fees, room and board for full-time students) at a public university was slightly over $20,000. In contrast, private universities cost, on average, nearly $43,000 annually. But in the end, the cost of college comes down to each student’s academic and financial situation.
This list is composed entirely of public colleges and universities that offer bachelor’s degrees. We’ve identified 4 public universities in Idaho. To be included in our list of the best public colleges in Idaho, shcools must receive direct funding from the state, be fully accredited, and offer a broad range of bachelor’s degress.
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! 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 in their fields of study.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
59%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/23
University of Idaho’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
55%
Student body
18K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/23
Boise State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Graduation
34%
Student body
9K
Idaho State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
100%
Graduation
36%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
990/19
Lewis–Clark State 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 utiulized 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.
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