STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The nation’s top colleges and universities were ranked in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2025 Best Colleges released Tuesday, including Staten Island’s two campuses.
The 40th annual edition based its rankings on statistics, like schools providing ample resources for students and faculty, conferred bachelor’s degrees at high rates, and producing graduates who entered the workforce with manageable debt and worthwhile starting salaries.
U.S. News ranked nearly 1,500 four-year bachelor’s degree-granting institutions in the U.S. using 17 ranking factors, such as graduation rates, borrower debt, standardized tests, student-faculty ration, financial resources for students, and more. Each indicator is assigned a weight based on U.S. News’ researched judgment about which measures of quality matter most. The colleges are then ranked based on their overall scores.
More than 130 four-year institutions are located in New York — the most of any state in the United States. Dozens of colleges are within the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) systems, two of the largest public university systems in the country.
Here is how Staten Island’s two college campuses —Wagner College on Grymes Hill and the College of Staten Island (CSI) in Willowbrook — ranked in the Best Colleges guide.
WAGNER COLLEGE
Wagner College was ranked 60th of 171 colleges in the list of regional universities in the northeastern United States. The private institution was founded in 1883 and has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,590 (as of fall 2023), and the campus size is 105 acres.
It was ranked 49th in “Best Value Schools” and ranked 127th in “Top Performers on Social Mobility.” It also ranked as 314 in Nursing.
“Wagner does not pursue rankings — we offer solid academic preparation and excellent student services, and the world takes notice,” said President Jeffrey A. Doggett, Ed.D. “I’m happy that the hard work of our faculty and staff is acknowledged and appreciated.”
COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND
The College of Staten Island placed 101st out of 171 colleges of northern regional universities. The public institution was founded in 1976 and has a total undergraduate enrollment of nearly 9,800 students as of fall 2023.
The college also ranked 37th in “Top Public Schools” and 82nd in “Top Performers on Social Mobility.”
Here are other rankings:
- 150th in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs
- 345th in Nursing
- 277th in Economics