Liberal arts colleges are a great option for students seeking a well-rounded education in an intimate campus setting. The best liberal arts colleges in Ohio offer a diverse selection of degree programs with opportunities for a highly individualized educational experience.
Ohio offers over 120 colleges and universities for students to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree. The largest school in the state, Ohio State University, a public institution, serves almost 55,000 students. This university has five regional campuses, which have graduated alumni like writer Harlan Ellison and Wikipedia cofounder Larry Sanger. The majority of Ohio’s schools, however, are private.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Tuition at these schools varies greatly, with costs as low as $7,000 at God’s Bible School and College, and as high as $56,000 at Kenyon University. The state is also home to nearly 40 higher education institutes with religious affiliations, offering plenty of options for students aiming to blend their faith with higher education. Although tuition costs in Ohio are higher than the national average, Ohio provides several loan forgiveness programs to those pursuing careers as public defenders and prosecutors, dentists, nurses, primary care physicians, and mental health providers. Many of these programs require individuals to work in shortage areas around the state for a certain time period in order to qualify.
If you’re someone with a wide variety of interests, Ohio might just be the place for you. In The Buckeye State, individuals can visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, take a trip through Amish Country, attend a professional sporting event, and hike waterfalls in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It seems this state has something for everyone, including those pursuing a higher education degree.
Learn more about the numerous excellent degree paths and career prospects available in Ohio.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
A liberal arts college is a school that puts a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree. We’ve identified a total of 53 liberal arts colleges and universities in Ohio, 25 of which satisfy our criteria. The list below of the best liberal arts schools 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.
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
35%
Graduation
86%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1380/31
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Oberlin College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
89%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1365/31
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Kenyon College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
28%
Graduation
80%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1305/29
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Denison University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
74%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/27
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College of Wooster’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
67%
Student body
2K
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Ohio Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$44K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
75%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1180/25
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John Carroll University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
69%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1175/25
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Xavier University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
50%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1006/21
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Hiram College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$41K
Acceptance
97%
Graduation
63%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1112/23
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Wittenberg University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
54%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1054/22
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Malone University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/22
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University of Mount Union’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
53%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/22
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Marietta College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1152/23
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Otterbein University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
76%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1204/25
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Ohio Northern University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$30K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
79%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1195/25
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Franciscan University of Steubenville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
36%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1029/20
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Ursuline College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Student body
<1K
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Antioch University Midwest’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
62%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/21
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Ashland University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
60%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/23
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Capital University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
56%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1005/20
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Muskingum University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
70%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1146/24
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Baldwin Wallace University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
74%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1235/26
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Cedarville University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
62%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/22
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Mount Vernon Nazarene University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
60%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1082/22
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Walsh University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
55%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/21
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Mount St. Joseph University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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