PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Officials at the University of Maine at Presque Isle are pleased to announce that the institution earned four top rankings on U.S. News and World Report’s 2025 Best Colleges list. In this year’s annual rankings, UMPI was named among the top tier of Best Regional Colleges in the North, the 20 Top Public Schools in the North, the top 10 Regional Colleges in the North for graduates with least debt, and the top 30 Regional Colleges in the North for Social Mobility.
“We are proud to again be recognized in four separate categories within the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges List,” UMPI President Ray Rice said. “We’re especially pleased to be spotlighted as one of the top 10 Regional Colleges in the North for graduates with least debt — UMPI is the top institution in Maine and all of New England to appear on this list. It’s an incredible reaffirmation of the work our faculty and staff do every day to provide a high quality and incredibly affordable education to our students.”
In its Best Regional Colleges in the North ranking, UMPI was listed at #35, earning first tier status. The ranking defines regional colleges as schools that focus on undergraduate education but grant fewer than half their degrees in liberal arts disciplines. The north region includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.
UMPI was at #19 in the Top Public Schools ranking list for Regional Colleges in the North. The ranking defines public colleges and universities as those that are typically operated under the supervision of state governments and funded, in part, by tax dollars and subsidies from the state. Such universities often offer free or discounted tuition to students considered residents of the state.
The University attained a top 10 ranking on the list of Regional Colleges in the North for graduates with the least debt. U.S. News compiled a list of schools whose Class of 2020 and 2021 graduated with the lightest debt load. The data included loans owned by the U.S. Department of Education, the vast majority of student loans. UMPI came in at #8 and was the first institution from Maine, and all of New England, to make the list.
Finally, in U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of Top Performers on Social Mobility, UMPI ranked #24 among Regional Colleges in the North, climbing 7 spots. This ranking measured how well each school graduated students who received federal Pell Grants (those typically coming from households whose family incomes are less than $50,000 annually).
U.S. News and World Report has published its Best Colleges rankings since 1983. According to its website, the rankings provide an excellent starting point for families searching for the best academic value for their money and allow them to compare, at a glance, the relative quality of institutions based on such widely accepted indicators of excellence as freshman retention and graduation rates and the strength of the faculty.