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
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! 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 in their fields of study.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.
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 52 liberal arts colleges in Ohio. To be ranked among the 30 best liberal arts colleges in Ohio, schools must fully accredited institutions.
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
35%
Graduation
86%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1380/31
Oberlin College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
28%
Graduation
80%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1305/29
Denison University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$63K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
89%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1365/31
Kenyon College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
62%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/21
Ashland University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
75%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1180/25
John Carroll University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
67%
Student body
2K
Ohio Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
69%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1175/25
Xavier University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
47%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/21
Youngstown State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
97%
Graduation
63%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1112/23
Wittenberg University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
74%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/27
College of Wooster’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
76%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1204/25
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
Franciscan University of Steubenville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/22
University of Mount Union’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
74%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1235/26
Cedarville University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
53%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/22
Marietta College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$28K
Acceptance
62%
Graduation
41%
Student body
3K
Tiffin University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
28%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
810/15
Central State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
60%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/23
Capital University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
62%
Graduation
39%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
788/17
Wilberforce University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
50%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1006/21
Hiram College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
54%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1054/22
Malone University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
60%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1082/22
Walsh University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
43%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1000/18
Notre Dame College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$30K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
56%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1005/20
Muskingum University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Graduation
41%
Student body
3K
Shawnee State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
70%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1146/24
Baldwin Wallace University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
48%
Student body
1K
Lake Erie College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1152/23
Otterbein University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Student body
<1K
Antioch University Midwest’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
36%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1029/20
Ursuline College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
20%
Student body
3K
University of Cincinnati Clermont College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Graduation
15%
Student body
2K
Miami University Middletown’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
55%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
942/20
Bluffton University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
49%
Graduation
53%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/22
Ohio Dominican University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
31%
Student body
2K
Kent State University at Stark’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Graduation
34%
Student body
1K
Ohio Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
26%
Student body
<1K
Kent State University at Ashtabula’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Graduation
16%
Student body
2K
Miami University Hamilton’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
52%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1055/21
Heidelberg University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
30%
Student body
1K
Ohio University Southern Campus’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
23%
Student body
<1K
Kent State University at Salem’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
62%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/22
Mount Vernon Nazarene University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
55%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/21
Mount St. Joseph University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
55%
Graduation
45%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
970/19
Defiance College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Graduation
32%
Student body
3K
Ohio State University at Newark’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Graduation
20%
Student body
1K
Ohio University – Chillicothe’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Graduation
20%
Student body
<1K
Ohio State University at Mansfield’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Graduation
62%
Student body
3K
University of Northwestern Ohio’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$27K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
43%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1030/20
Lourdes University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Graduation
13%
Student body
1K
Ohio State University at Marion’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
In pursuing a bachelor’s degree, you will need to choose between three kinds of schools: research universities, liberal arts colleges, and online colleges.
Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. These schools offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students.
Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines. Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you. If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel.
Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put 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.
Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available. Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degress you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no disctinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online. Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whehter you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college.
If you interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.
Back to TopMany of our 2022 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2021. That’s because we took a fundamentally different apporach. For 2021 we utiulized our Concentrated Influence algorithm, designed to take away the size advantage larger schools have when we rank their faculty and alumni’s academic influence. Concentrated influence highlights smaller schools that are proportionally as successful as larger universities at cultivating influential alumni and faculty.
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