Small colleges in New York 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.
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.
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The following list of the best small colleges and universities in New York is composed mainly of four-year undergraduate schools (though a handful also offer graduate programs). There are 73 small colleges in New York; 53 of which meet our criteria. The list below of the 25 best small colleges 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
$58K
Acceptance
55%
Graduation
72%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1331/29
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Yeshiva University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
74%
Student body
2K
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Bard College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
27%
Graduation
91%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
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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
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Hamilton College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
41%
Graduation
86%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1320/29
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Union College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
61%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/26
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State University of New York at Purchase’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
32%
Graduation
86%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1310/30
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Skidmore College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
73%
Student body
2K
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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
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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
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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
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Clarkson University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
47%
Graduation
80%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/28
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St. Lawrence University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
61%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1060/22
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Alfred University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
74%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/22
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St. Bonaventure University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
65%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1190/24
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Houghton College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
86%
Graduation
60%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/23
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Iona College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
78%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1176/25
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Le Moyne College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
81%
Student body
3K
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Siena College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
59%
Student body
4K
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College of Saint Rose’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
69%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/24
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Canisius College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
77%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/23
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Niagara University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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