Here Are NJ's 15 'Best' Colleges For The New School Year: Report

NEW JERSEY — The Garden State has one of the nation's top-five colleges, along with several other universities that deserve high marks, according to Niche's "2023 Best Colleges Rankings."

Niche — a website known for its extensive rankings of schools, universities and communities — updated data for 4,050 colleges nationwide, releasing rankings Monday with a different methodology "to better evaluate an institution’s return on investment," according to the platform.

"Even before the pandemic, high school students and their families were questioning the value of higher education, in large part due to how expensive it’s become in the past 20 years or so," said Niche Principal Strategist Ryan Bell. "Our updates to our 'Value' methodology come at a time when prospective college students are more intent on choosing a school that will yield a good return on investment than ever before."

But cost remains just one of many factors. Princeton University, which tops New Jersey institutions in most general college rankings, placed first among the state's universities. The Ivy League school topped Niche's list of New Jersey colleges, despite a $79,540 cost of attendance for the 2022-23 school year.

Princeton also placed fifth in Niche's list of the nation's best colleges, trailing only the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (first), Stanford University (second), Harvard University (third) and Yale University (fourth).

Here are Niche's rankings of New Jersey colleges, along with the grades the platform gave each school:

1. Princeton University, A+
2. Rutgers University–New Brunswick, A
3. Stevens Institute of Technology, A-
4. The College of New Jersey, A-
5. Rutgers University–Newark, B+
6. New Jersey Institute of Technology, B+
7. Seton Hall University, B+
8. Monmouth University, B
9. Rowan University, B
10. Montclair State University, B
11. Saint Elizabeth University, B
12. Rutgers University–Camden, B
13. William Paterson University, B
14. Stockton University, B
15. Ramapo College, B

Several other New Jersey colleges received grades but didn't make the state's top 15. Users can click any institution on the lists for further details.

Niche's analysis includes factors such as academics, campus, food and diversity. The website combined data from the U.S. Department of Education and nearly 500,000 college reviews from students. See more about Niche's methodology.

With more data and tools available than ever, Niche seeks to provide students and parents with additional power to navigate the college-search process. The platform also broke down rankings by major, the type of institution and admissions standards.

But some educational experts warn against overvaluing college rankings when selecting or evaluating an institution. Some of the issues with university rankings include the downgrading of colleges with less of a budget to promote themselves, important factors that can't be quantified, and subjective reputational factors that often influence placement, writes Alexandru Pop of Studyportals.

Two businesses emerged in the 1980s that changed higher education: the test-prep business — largely shaped by Stanley Kaplan, who founded Kaplan, Inc. — and the start of the U.S. News & World Report rankings, according to Business Insider.

U.S. News began evaluating universities based on the test scores of admitted students, which prompted colleges to desire more applicants who tested high. The universities offered merit-based scholarships and financial incentives to students who tested high. As a result, affluent parents of college applicants paid for test prep for their children to get those incentives.

The publication, which remains a behemoth for college rankings, has updated its methodology since. But academic performance remains the focus in U.S. News rankings, with the media outlet ranking institutions on 17 measures of academic quality. U.S. News will release its 2022-23 college rankings Sept. 12.