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 Virginia.
Liberty University, a private Christian school in Lynchburg, is the largest school in Virginia, serving over 60,000 students. The largest public university, Virginia Tech, has a student population of about half that but offers many in-person degree programs as well as eight master’s programs and 19 certificate programs online. Students who attend Virginia Tech can pursue fields like engineering, criminal justice, education, and business.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
The majority of Virginia’s universities and colleges could be considered small schools, serving populations of less than 5,000 students. Included on this list are public schools, like Christopher Newport University in Newport News, and private schools, like Hampton University, a historically black university in Hampton. Though most of its higher education institutes charge tuition fees above the national average, Virginia offers several loan forgiveness programs for qualifying attorneys and medical, dental, behavioral health, and pharmaceutical professionals.
Virginia is perhaps most famous for its rich history — but the state is also home to many unique museums and famous landmarks. For example, those who love the classics can visit the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond. Those who harbor romantic dreams of espionage and intrigue might visit the CIA Museum in McLean. And, if you like your attractions random, you could check out Virginia’s 300-yard-long natural tunnel or its 29-ton spinning granite ball. While you’re here, you might consider attending one of the 78 colleges located in the state.
Learn more about Virginia’s higher education opportunities by checking out the state’s many colleges and universities.
Public and private colleges and universities operate under different business models. Public colleges and universities are owned by the state and receive both state and federal funding to operate. Private colleges and universities are private companies with private funding. If you’re looking at the pros and cons of private vs. public colleges, 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 bachelor’s 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. Attending a college in-state is usually the cheapest option. Private universities and colleges can be very competitive with their funding opportunities, so do not simply believe that private colleges are always going to be more expensive. According to National Center for Educational Statistics, the average annual cost (tuition, fees, room and board for full-time students) at a public university was slightly over $20,000. In contrast, private universities cost, on average, nearly $43,000 annually. But in the end, the cost of college comes down to each student’s academic and financial situation.
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.
This list is composed entirely of private colleges and universities that offer bachelor’s degrees. We’ve identified 28 private universities in Virginia. To be included in the list below of the best private universities in Virginia, schools must be fully accredited, private, non-profit institution, and must offer a broad range of bachelor’s degrees.
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
25%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1430/33
Washington and Lee University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
31%
Graduation
88%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1375/31
University of Richmond’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
50%
Graduation
54%
Student body
75K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/24
Liberty University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
36%
Graduation
57%
Student body
4K
Hampton University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Acceptance
50%
Graduation
61%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/22
Regent University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
32%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1110/24
Sweet Briar College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$17K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
43%
Student body
15K
ECPI University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
36%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
849/15
Virginia Union University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
70%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
Roanoke College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Graduation
73%
Student body
2K
Stratford University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
62%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/26
Hollins University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
54%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1065/20
Marymount University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
66%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/23
Randolph–Macon College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
47%
Graduation
71%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1190/23
Hampden–Sydney College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
61%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/22
Shenandoah University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$27K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
56%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/22
Randolph College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
60%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/22
Eastern Mennonite University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
54%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1065/21
Emory and Henry College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$18K
Acceptance
99%
Graduation
45%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1083/22
Southern Virginia University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
63%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/21
Bridgewater College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
50%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1065/24
Virginia Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
32%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
960/18
Ferrum College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
42%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1030/20
Mary Baldwin University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
97%
Graduation
57%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/22
University of Lynchburg’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Graduation
27%
Student body
<1K
Virginia University of Lynchburg’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
50%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
960/18
Averett University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
36%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
985/19
Bluefield University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Graduation
50%
Student body
<1K
The Art Institute of Virginia Beach’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Many 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.