Best Small Colleges in Iowa 2023

Best Small Colleges in Iowa 2023

By James Barham

Published: May 6, 2021
Updated: May 22, 2023

Small colleges in Iowa are a great option for students interested in a more intimate campus experience, more personal attention from excellent professors, and more immediate access to support services. Whether the focus is on the technical or on the liberal arts, small colleges give you the chance to pursue a well-rounded education while working closely with classmates and professors in a dynamic community atmosphere.

10 Best Small Colleges in Iowa 2022

Grinnell College

43%

Drake University

40%

37%

Cornell College

31%

Upper Iowa University

30%

29%

29%

Graceland University

26%

Iowa Wesleyan University

26%

Clarke University

25%

Grand View University

100%

Maharishi International University

95%

Simpson College

91%

Clarke University

89%

Wartburg College

83%

Northwestern College

83%

Iowa Wesleyan University

82%

Cornell College

81%

Mount Mercy University

81%

76%

Waldorf University

25 to 1

University of Dubuque

15 to 1

William Penn University

15 to 1

Dordt University

14 to 1

Graceland University

14 to 1

Mount Mercy University

14 to 1

Morningside University

13 to 1

12 to 1

Grand View University

12 to 1

Maharishi International University

12 to 1

Grinnell College

$58,648

$48,822

Cornell College

$47,726

Wartburg College

$47,500

$46,760

Drake University

$45,912

Simpson College

$44,030

Buena Vista University

$37,518

Clarke University

$36,870

Mount Mercy University

$36,540

Maharishi International University

$32,000

Wartburg College

$21,850

Upper Iowa University

$19,685

St. Ambrose University

$18,360

Cornell College

$14,850

Clarke University

$13,847

$12,960

Drake University

$11,738

Mount Mercy University

$11,106

Graceland University

$10,970

Dordt University

14%

Waldorf University

15%

Morningside University

16%

Northwestern College

17%

Briar Cliff University

19%

Buena Vista University

19%

Mount Mercy University

19%

William Penn University

20%

Grand View University

21%

St. Ambrose University

22%

Grinnell College

11%

William Penn University

58%

Upper Iowa University

65%

Buena Vista University

66%

Graceland University

67%

Drake University

69%

Waldorf University

72%

72%

St. Ambrose University

72%

Dordt University

73%

Grinnell College

8 to 1

Clarke University

8 to 1

Buena Vista University

10 to 1

Drake University

10 to 1

11 to 1

Simpson College

11 to 1

Northwestern College

11 to 1

Briar Cliff University

11 to 1

Upper Iowa University

11 to 1

12 to 1

Maharishi International University

$16,530

Waldorf University

$23,666

William Penn University

$27,200

Grand View University

$30,864

Graceland University

$31,920

St. Ambrose University

$33,570

Northwestern College

$33,590

Upper Iowa University

$33,609

Iowa Wesleyan University

$33,650

Briar Cliff University

$33,998

Waldorf University

$4,800

Northwestern College

$6,120

Iowa Wesleyan University

$6,300

Morningside University

$6,516

Simpson College

$6,526

University of Dubuque

$6,960

Grand View University

$9,270

Briar Cliff University

$9,450

Dordt University

$9,750

Buena Vista University

$9,936

Table of Contents

Colleges and Universities in Iowa

With a large number of both brick-and-mortar and online colleges in Iowa, students have plenty of great schools to choose from.

Iowa’s largest public university, Iowa State University, serves over 30,000 students and offers extra flexibility for both undergraduate and graduate students through a selection of online degree programs in more than 50 academic fields including business administration, psychology, computer science, and more.

The University of Iowa-home of the Hawkeyes-is also home to some of the nation’s top programs in literature, philosophy, and law. The University of Iowa has also been at the forefront of higher education, starting the nation’s first co-educational medical school, as well as being the first public school to grant a law degree to a woman, Mary B. Hickey Wilkinson, in 1873.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

For prospective students hoping to obtain their degrees at a smaller school, Iowa offers over 40 options to choose from. For a more affordable option, students can pay $4,000 per year for tuition at Indian Hills Community College. Like most community colleges in Georgia, Indian Hills also offers an array of online programs.

At the other end of the spectrum, students will pay up to $52,000 for an academic year at Grinnell College. Furthermore, nearly half of the schools in Iowa are religiously affiliated.

Iowa is often recognized for its agriculture as it produces the most pork and corn in the nation. Equally noteworthy is Iowa’s wealth of one-of-a-kind roadside attractions. From the largest wooden nickel, to the crookedest street, to the Grotto of Redemption, The Hawkeye State is full of wonders. Students in search of curiosities and oddities while earning a degree can attend one of Iowa’s public or private colleges.

Whether you’re looking to earn your associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree, Iowa offers a wealth of on-campus and online learning options. Discover more about Iowa’s top brick-and-mortar and online programs as well as top career paths in the state of Iowa.

What are Iowa’s Colleges & Universities?

Iowa’s Best Overall

Iowa's Best Small Colleges and Universities Badge — Download Badge

The following list of the best small colleges and universities in Iowa is composed mainly of four-year undergraduate schools (though a handful also offer graduate programs). We’ve identified 24 small colleges in Iowa. The list below of the best small colleges in Iowa. To be included schools must fully accredited, and must have student body populations below 5,000 students.

How do we determine Iowa's best small colleges and universities?

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.

Best Small Colleges in Iowa 2022

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Iowa’s Best Small College in Your Area of Interest

2021 Ranking Archive

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.