Here are the best colleges and universities in Mississippi. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you.
The majority of the learning institutes in Mississippi are public schools, with the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, being the largest. This university, located in Oxford, boasts alumni like William Faulkner, John Grisham, and James Meredith. Tuition at Ole Miss runs about $9,000, just below the national average. The eight private colleges, all of which have religious affiliations, range in tuition costs from $10,000 at Rust College to $40,000 at Millsaps College.
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Students who attend these schools have the option to pursue degrees in fields like nursing, business, dentistry, Christian ministry, education, and literature. Additionally, all of these private schools are considered small schools, serving under 5,000 students. Mississippi also offers up to $12,000 of undergraduate loan forgiveness, over the course of four years, for teachers who work in designated shortage areas or who teach in critical shortage subjects, like special education or mathematics.
From Mississippi mud pie to fried chicken, Mississippi brings a whole new meaning to the term comfort food.
The Magnolia State is easy on the eyes too. With nearly endless forests spilling over with hickory, pine, and oak trees, the intricate river system, and the Gulf Island National Seashore, Mississippi is a true destination for lovers of outdoor adventure. And students who plan on earning their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in Mississippi have 31 colleges and universities to choose from.
Explore some of the top schools and career paths Mississippi has to offer.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
We’ve identified 15 colleges and universities in Mississippi that meet our criteria. This list of the top colleges in Mississippi below focuses on schools that offer bachelor’s degrees. The ranking features fully accredited public and private colleges and universities in Mississippi.
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
68%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/26
University of Mississippi’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
60%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/26
Mississippi State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
96%
Graduation
52%
Student body
13K
University of Southern Mississippi’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
62%
Graduation
39%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
970/18
Jackson State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$20K
Acceptance
49%
Graduation
63%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1200/25
Mississippi College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
100%
Graduation
44%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1005/20
Delta State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$43K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
62%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1177/24
Millsaps College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
99%
Graduation
45%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/21
Mississippi University for Women’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
56%
Graduation
34%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
865/18
Tougaloo College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
39%
Graduation
42%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
880/20
Alcorn State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
60%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1190/23
William Carey University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$28K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
54%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1065/21
Belhaven University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
38%
Graduation
27%
Student body
<1K
Rust College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
27%
Student body
2K
Mississippi Valley State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$17K
Acceptance
99%
Graduation
58%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1040/20
Blue Mountain 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 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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