Public colleges and universities account for almost 75 percent of all undergraduate students in the U.S. The best public colleges in Missouri provide broad access to reputable degree programs, affordable tuition, and sprawling educational communities.
Tuition costs in Missouri fall below the national average, allowing students access to many affordable options. For example, at Missouri State University, the second largest public school, tuition fees are around $7,000. Students of actor John Goodman’s alma mater can major in fields like religious studies, history, and business, and even have the option of earning an associate degree in arts or a bachelor’s in business at the university’s sister school in China. Missouri also offers more than 40 private schools.
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Tuition and student populations vary greatly among these schools, but students who attend these higher education institutes also have the option to attend classes at other campuses. For example, Saint Louis University, a college with Jesuit roots, has campuses in both St. Louis and Madrid, Spain. Additionally, Missouri offers special loan forgiveness programs for nurses and other health professionals, including dentists, psychiatrists, and primary care physicians, who work in designated, high-need areas.
When you aren’t exploring one of its 6,000 caves, chowing down on some barbecue, or taking in a live jazz performance, Missouri can serve as the perfect place to begin a road trip. The Show Me State is bordered by eight other U.S. states, making it ideal for students love travelling and planning weekend getaways. During the week days, students can continue on their road to success by pursuing their degree at one of Missouri’s 72 higher education institutes.
See where Missouri’s many roads can take you while earning your degree at one this state’s top learning institutions.
Public and private colleges and universities operate under different business models — one is a private company with private funding; the other is owned by the state and receives both state and federal funding to operate. If you’re weighing the pros and cons of private vs. public college, 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 four-year 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. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the average annual cost (tuition, fees, room and board for full-time students) at a four-year public university was slightly over $20,000. In contrast, private universities cost, on average, nearly $43,000 annually.
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.
This list is composed entirely of public colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 13 public universities in Missouri, 9 of which satisfy our criteria. The list below of the best public universities in the state satisfies the following four conditions:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
73%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1230/26
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University of Missouri’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
67%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1325/29
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Missouri University of Science and Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
51%
Student body
9K
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Southeast Missouri State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
75%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/27
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Truman State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
54%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
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University of Missouri–Kansas City’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
58%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/24
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Missouri State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
56%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/24
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University of Missouri–St. Louis’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
54%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1119/22
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Northwest Missouri State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
51%
Student body
9K
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University of Central Missouri’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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