Best Private Colleges in Indiana 2023

Published: Mar 23, 2021
Updated: Jan 24, 2023

Private colleges, unlike large public institutions, can be a great option for students wanting a more intimate campus experience, more personal attention from excellent professors, and more immediate access to support services. Here is our list of the best private colleges in Indiana.

Colleges and Universities in Indiana

Prospective students searching for both brick-and-mortar and online colleges in Indiana have many excellent options, including notable institutions like University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, and Butler University. Each boasts a high graduate rate, a wide variety of traditional and online degree programs, and numerous excellent undergraduate and graduate programs. The tuition and student population vary widely between these schools.

Indiana University Bloomington is the largest public university in Indiana. The state university is also noted for its high graduation rate, its large student population of roughly 40,000 students, and an in-state tuition rate just above the national average at $11,000.

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Additionally, students hoping to attend a school with a religious affiliation have nearly 30 options to choose from. Both traditional and online students at these schools can study areas like engineering, business, philosophy, religious studies, and law.

The state of Indiana offers loan forgiveness-based financial aid programs for health care workers who work in areas with labor shortages as well as for lawyers providing public legal aid. Additionally, graduates of Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law pursuing public interest law can apply for a special grant program that will help cover the cost of preparing and sitting for the bar exam.

With town names like Popcorn and Santa Claus, Indiana clearly has a quirky personality. Along with these unique towns, Indiana also hosts the famous Indianapolis 500 auto race; boasts a thriving art scene; and has been home to iconic celebrities, including Larry Bird, James Dean, and David Letterman.

Students wanting to experience all Indiana has to offer while studying have the option of attending one of Indiana’s more than 50 higher education institutes. Most offer both traditional and online degrees, as well as a full array of undergraduate programs and advanced degrees.

Explore Indiana’s more than 50 colleges and universities to find a program and future career path that’s right for you.

What are Indiana’s Colleges & Universities?

Indiana’s Best Overall

What is the difference between public and private colleges?

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.

How do we determine Indiana's best private colleges and universities?

Methodology

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.

This list is composed entirely of private colleges and universities that offer bachelor’s degrees. We’ve identified 27 private universities in Indiana. To be included in the list below of the best private universities in Indiana, schools must be fully accredited, private, non-profit institution, and must offer a broad range of bachelor’s degrees.