Best Colleges in Kansas 2026

Badge for BEST IN KANSAS COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

Updated: Feb 19, 2026

Here are the best colleges and universities in Kansas. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you.

10 Best Colleges in Kansas in 2026

University of Kansas
Kansas State University
Wichita State University
Washburn University
Pittsburg State University
+1
Baker University
–1
Emporia State University
Friends University
+2
Fort Hays State University
–1
Ottawa University
–1

Table of Contents

Colleges and Universities in Kansas

Prospective students searching for both brick-and-mortar and online colleges in Kansas can choose from a wide range of excellent schools. The Sunflower State offers a wide range of highly accessible public options for Kansas students seeking undergraduate and graduate degrees in a wide range of disciplines.

Kansas is noted for its 23 community and technical colleges. These institutions provide numerous pathways to traditional and online degree programs, and well as online certificate programs for working professionals.

Kansas also has nine public universities, the largest being the University of Kansas (KU) with over 28,000 students. The school’s main campus is located in Lawrence, Kansas, but there are four other locations where students can attend KU classes: Overland Park, Kansas City, Wichita, and Salina. This means there are plenty of options for Kansas students seeking an on-campus experience and in state tuition rates.

It should also be noted that online students attending public colleges in Kansas are also entitled to in state tuition rates.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

Kansas is also home to 22 private higher education institutions, with tuition ranging from $7,000 to $31,000.

In addition, students can choose from one of 18 religiously affiliated schools, including Newman University, Wichita - a Catholic liberal arts university serving the state’s largest private school student population at just over 2,000.

Kansas boasts an array of affordable options for both on-campus and online learners. The average tuition for a year of college in Kansas is $9,230, which is below the national average.

Kansas awards associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in popular fields of study, like economics, health services administration, early childhood education, elementary education, business administration, and more. Specialized degrees include aerospace engineering at the University of Kansas and agribusiness from Kansas State University.

Students who earn degrees in the medical and health care fields may have access to loan forgiveness-based programs, such as the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program. This financial aid program awards up to $50,000, tax free, for those who serve two years at an approved site.

Arguably, it was the 1939 cinema classic, The Wizard of Oz, that put Kansas on the map. But this midwestern state is also known for its mouth-watering barbecue, open plains, and vast sunflower fields. Prospective students can also choose from traditional and online schools and universities across the state of Kansas.

See what Kansas has to offer by checking out the top undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as unique educational opportunities like online certificate programs and degree completion programs.

What are Kansas’s Colleges & Universities?

Kansas’s Best Overall

How do we determine Kansas's best 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.

We’ve identified 24 colleges and universities in Kansas that meet our criteria. This list of the top colleges in Kansas below focuses on schools that offer bachelor’s degrees. The ranking features fully accredited public and private colleges and universities in Kansas.

Best Colleges in Kansas 2023

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Kansas’s Best Colleges in Your Area of Interest

2021 Ranking Archive

Many of our 2024 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2023. That’s because we took a fundamentally different approach. For 2024 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.

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Best Colleges in Kansas 2026

10 Best Colleges in Kansas in 2026

Colleges and Universities in Kansas

What are Kansas’s Colleges & Universities?

Best Colleges in Kansas 2023

Last Year’s Ranking:

Career Outlook for degree at University of Kansas

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Kansas State University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Wichita State University

Most Influential Alumni

Wichita State University’s Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Washburn University

Most Influential Alumni

Washburn University’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Pittsburg State University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Baker University

Most Influential Alumni

Baker University’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Emporia State University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Friends University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Fort Hays State University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Ottawa University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Benedictine College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Southwestern College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Bethel College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Kansas Wesleyan University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at MidAmerica Nazarene University

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Newman University, Wichita

Newman University, Wichita’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at McPherson College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Tabor College

Most Influential Alumni

Tabor College ’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Bethany College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Donnelly College

Career Outlook for degree at University of Saint Mary

Career Outlook for degree at Hesston College

Most Influential Alumni

Career Outlook for degree at Sterling College

Most Influential Alumni

Sterling College ’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Central Christian College of Kansas

Kansas’s Best Colleges in Your Area of Interest