Public colleges and universities account for almost 75 percent of all undergraduate students in the U.S. The best public colleges in New Jersey provide broad access to reputable degree programs, affordable tuition, and sprawling educational communities.
Nearly half of the colleges and universities in this state are private, and tuition rates range from $6,000 to $52,000. With a graduation rate of 97% and a student population of just over 7,000, Princeton University is the state’s most esteemed institution. Narrowing in on the sciences and arts, this Ivy League school offers unique areas of study, including robotics, intelligent systems, and public life. The remaining 31 public colleges and universities range in tuition from $4,000 to $17,000.
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The state’s largest and top-ranked public research institution is Rutgers University. With campuses in New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden as well as smaller locations across the state, Rutgers awards degrees in physics, economics, criminal justice, and psychology. New Jersey also has 11 religiously affiliated colleges and universities, including the oldest diocesan university in the United States, Seton Hall University. This Roman Catholic university has a tuition rate of $42,000 and a student population of over 8,000.
New Jersey, known for its sandy shores and busy expressways, also has more diners than any other state in the U.S., as well as the world’s longest boardwalk, located in Atlantic City. Many influential people, including Buzz Aldrin, Frank Sinatra, and Thomas Edison, have called The Garden State home. Visitors can even peek at some of Edison’s early light bulbs at the Menlo Park Museum. And with 50 higher learning institutions to choose from, students can find a school that suits their career path and budget.
Learn more about earning your degree from one of New Jersey’s highly regarded colleges and universities.
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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.
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This list is composed entirely of public colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 13 public universities in New Jersey; 11 of which meet our criteria. The list below of the best public universities in the state satisfies the following four conditions:
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.
Less Tuition + fees
$18K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
70%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1290/27
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New Jersey Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
68%
Student body
19K
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Montclair State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$16K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
86%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1260/27
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The College of New Jersey’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
65%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/20
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Rutgers University–Camden’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
72%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/23
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Ramapo College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
74%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/23
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Stockton University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
65%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1110/22
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Rutgers University–Newark’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
68%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
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Rowan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
56%
Student body
9K
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William Paterson University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
50%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1010/20
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Kean University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
84%
Student body
47K
Median SAT/ACT
1320/28
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Rutgers University–New Brunswick’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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