Small colleges in Minnesota 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.
One of largest public higher education institutes in the country, the University of Minnesota has main campuses in both of the Twin Cities, Saint Paul and Minneapolis. This school costs about $15,000 in tuition, and provides its students with competitive programs in fields like nursing, education, economics, and psychology. And the options don’t stop there. There are more than 20 schools in the state with religious affiliations, including larger schools like the University of St. Thomas, which campuses in both Twin Cities, and smaller schools like Oak Hills Christian College in Bemidji.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
For students striving to keep costs low in a smaller school environment, Southwest Minnesota State University offers tuition below the national average and serves about 3,500 students. Additionally, those on track to become a teacher or health care provider may be eligible for one of Minnesota’s loan forgiveness programs after graduation. Minnesota also boasts a large network of private colleges, two of which, Walden University and Capella University, primarily cater to online students.
Ever heard the phrase, There’s an app for that?
Well, in Minnesota they say something similar, There’s a festival for that.
This fun state doesn’t hold back when it comes to celebrating. With events like the Grumpy Old Men Festival, World Festival, and the Perham Turtle Fest, students earning their degrees at one of Minnesota’s more than 70 colleges won’t miss out on a good time.
Discover some of Minnesota’s top programs and learn how you can earn your associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree while cashing in on some of this state’s unique experiences.
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.
Find out more about our ranking methodology here.
The following list of the best small colleges and universities in Minnesota is composed mainly of four-year undergraduate schools (though a handful also offer graduate programs). We’ve identified 22 small colleges in Minnesota, 19 of which satisfy our criteria. The list below of the best small colleges in the state satisfies the following four conditions:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
21%
Graduation
94%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1450/32
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Carleton College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
39%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/31
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Macalester College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
60%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1165/24
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University of Minnesota Morris’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
85%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1310/29
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St. Olaf College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
65%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/22
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Hamline University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
85%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1147/25
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College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
78%
Student body
2K
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Gustavus Adolphus College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
59%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1180/20
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Augsburg University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
62%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1113/23
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Saint Mary's University of Minnesota’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$43K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
68%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1149/24
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Concordia College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
74%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/24
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Bethel University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
64%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1175/24
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St. Catherine University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
48%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
997/21
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Southwest Minnesota State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
48%
Student body
4K
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Concordia University, St. Paul’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
69%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1220/24
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University of Northwestern – St. Paul’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
69%
Student body
4K
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College of St. Scholastica’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
97%
Graduation
49%
Student body
1K
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Dunwoody College of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
51%
Student body
2K
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University of Minnesota Crookston’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$28K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
62%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/23
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Bethany Lutheran College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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