Small colleges in Oregon 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.
Oregon is home to over 40 higher education institutions, including Oregon State University, the largest in the state. More than 30,000 students are enrolled at this public research institution in Corvallis, and with a tuition of $11,000, the school comes in slightly above the national average. Students attending the next largest, the University of Oregon, will join in on a friendly intrastate rivalry against Oregon State. Though the tuition is higher at $12,000, the school boasts a student–faculty ratio of 16:1.
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Of the 21 private institutions, 10 are religiously based. Concordia University has the largest student population at just under 5,000 and a tuition of $31,000. Students who attend this private Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod university can study fields such as chemistry, psychology, and history. Oregon’s community colleges range in tuition from $4,000 to $6,000. The least expensive four-year institution in the state, Portland State University (PSU), comes in at $8,000. Students attending PSU can study a range of fields, including environmental engineering, film, and international business, right in the heart of the city.
Gaze at the Pacific Ocean from the Oregon Coast Highway, which travels along the entire coastal edge of the state. Taste Pacific Northwest wines from the Willamette Valley, or take a bike ride through the streets of Portland. Students looking to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in The Beaver State can enjoy a great higher education experience set against a stunning natural backdrop.
Discover what Oregon has to offer, and find a college that fits your career interests as well as your budget.
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.
The following list of the best small colleges and universities in Oregon is composed mainly of four-year undergraduate schools (though a handful also offer graduate programs). We’ve identified 15 small colleges in Oregon, 14 of which satisfy our criteria. The list below of the best small colleges in the state satisfies the following four conditions:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
42%
Graduation
77%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1422/32
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Reed College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
74%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1310/29
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Lewis & Clark College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
74%
Student body
2K
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Willamette University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
64%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/23
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Pacific University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
75%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/23
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Linfield University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
84%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/26
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University of Portland’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
47%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/21
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Southern Oregon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
94%
Graduation
28%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1037/20
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Eastern Oregon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
51%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/23
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Oregon Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/23
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George Fox University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$20K
Acceptance
100%
Graduation
38%
Student body
<1K
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Warner Pacific University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
48%
Graduation
50%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/22
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Corban University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
45%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1060/20
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Western Oregon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
51%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1081/19
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Bushnell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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