Private colleges, unlike large public institutions, can be a great option for students wanting a more intimate campus experience, more personal attention from excellent professors, and more immediate access to support services. Here is our list of the best private colleges in New York.
On average, tuition at New York’s higher education institutes comes in well-below the national average at about $7,900. Students have nearly 80 public school options to choose from, ranging in fees from $1,000 at the United States Merchant Marine Academy up to $10,000 at the University at Buffalo, the largest public university. However, some of the state’s private schools, such as New York University (NYU), charge tuition fees at a much higher cost.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Although tuition fees at NYU average $52,000, students who attend this school have access to some of the best programs in fields like literature, business, medicine, communications, and law. The school also boasts famous alumni like Whoopi Goldberg and Jonas Salk. New York also offers close to 40 religiously affiliated schools. Students can expect to pay a wide range of tuition costs at these schools, but have the option to major in fields like social work, law, religious studies, business, and nursing.
They say New York is a place where dreams come true. Here, fashion, culture, food, business, art, and many languages comfortably coexist. While The Empire State’s metropolitan landmarks, like the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, are noteworthy, many forget New York also offers access to the Great Lakes, the Atlantic Ocean, and countless cozy cabins tucked away in the verdant Catskills Mountains. Additionally, New York is home to over 200 colleges and universities, making it easy for students to dream big while earning their degrees.
Explore some of the top programs New York higher education institutes have to offer, and make your educational and personal dreams come true.
Less 
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.
Less 
This list is composed entirely of private colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 80 private universities in New York; 61 of which meet our criteria. The list below of the 25 best private 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 “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
$61K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
96%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/34
View profile
Columbia University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
95%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1480/33
View profile
Cornell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
55%
Graduation
72%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1331/29
View profile
Sarah Lawrence College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
14%
Graduation
90%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1430/32
View profile
Barnard College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
25%
Graduation
88%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1445/32
View profile
Vassar College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
18%
Graduation
79%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1417/32
View profile
Cooper Union’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
77%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1270/27
View profile
Yeshiva University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
21%
Graduation
88%
Student body
48K
Median SAT/ACT
1440/32
View profile
New York University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
74%
Student body
2K
View profile
Bard College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
69%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/27
View profile
The New School’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
35%
Graduation
86%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1405/32
View profile
University of Rochester’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
27%
Graduation
91%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
View profile
Colgate University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
18%
Graduation
91%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1445/33
View profile
Hamilton College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
87%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1390/31
View profile
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$52K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
83%
Student body
23K
Median SAT/ACT
1280/28
View profile
Syracuse University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
53%
Graduation
83%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1345/30
View profile
Fordham University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
41%
Graduation
86%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1320/29
View profile
Union College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
65%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/27
View profile
Hofstra University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
32%
Graduation
86%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1310/30
View profile
Skidmore College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
73%
Student body
2K
View profile
Wagner College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
62%
Graduation
77%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1272/28
View profile
Hobart and William Smith Colleges’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
70%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1170/25
View profile
Manhattan College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
76%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1255/26
View profile
Clarkson University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$41K
Acceptance
55%
Graduation
85%
Student body
6K
View profile
Marist College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
47%
Graduation
80%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/28
View profile
St. Lawrence University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
What are Custom College Rankings?
College Strategist
Stay informed! Get the latest Academic Influence news, information, and rankings with our upcoming newsletter.