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 Pennsylvania.
Prospective students hoping to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree have over 100 higher learning institutions to choose from. The largest public university is Pennsylvania State University, or Penn State, with a tuition of $18,000, and a student population of over 95,000 across its campuses. As a private institution, the University of Pennsylvania, or simply Penn, is known for its medical, nursing, social work, and business fields. Tuition is $56,000, and the school boasts a 95% graduation rate.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Students can also attend one of the more than 60 religiously affiliated schools, such as Villanova University or Lafayette College, each with a tuition of about $53,000. Some of the most affordable colleges in the state include the Curtis Institute of Music and the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, with tuitions set at $3,000 and $9,000, respectively. Though the average tuition for college in Pennsylvania comes in above the national average, those who practice medicine in underserved areas may qualify for up to $100,000 in loan forgiveness through the Pennsylvania Primary Care Loan Repayment Program.
As the nation’s second state, Pennsylvania’s history runs deep. It’s here where Betsy Ross made the first American flag and where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Keystone State is also home to some culinary delights, including whoopie pies, soft pretzels, and the famous Philly cheesesteak. Students looking to earn their degree in Pennsylvania will undoubtedly enjoy what the state has to offer.
Check out the state’s top programs and learn more about earning your degree in Pennsylvania.
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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.
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This list is composed entirely of private colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 76 private universities in Pennsylvania; 67 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
$55K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
97%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1460/33
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Swarthmore College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
93%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1510/34
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Carnegie Mellon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
96%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/34
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University of Pennsylvania’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
38%
Graduation
85%
Student body
2K
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Bryn Mawr College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
18%
Graduation
93%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1460/33
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Haverford College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
71%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1077/22
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Westminster College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
50%
Graduation
88%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1365/31
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Lehigh University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
38%
Graduation
88%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1342/30
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Bucknell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
64%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1119/23
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Wilkes University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
52%
Graduation
84%
Student body
3K
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Dickinson College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
71%
Student body
23K
Median SAT/ACT
1290/28
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Drexel University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
85%
Student body
3K
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Franklin & Marshall College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
63%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/23
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Saint Francis University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
86%
Graduation
72%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/24
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Elizabethtown College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
31%
Graduation
92%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1395/32
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Villanova University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
36%
Graduation
90%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1345/30
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Lafayette College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
70%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1165/24
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Thomas Jefferson University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
73%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/27
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Allegheny College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
65%
Student body
1K
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Washington & Jefferson College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
74%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/27
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Ursinus College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
75%
Student body
2K
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Susquehanna University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
48%
Graduation
84%
Student body
3K
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Gettysburg College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
82%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1215/26
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University of Scranton’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
79%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1215/25
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Duquesne University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
65%
Student body
5K
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La Salle University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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