Verified Federal Data · No Paid Rankings

Best Colleges in New Hampshire

Top New Hampshire colleges ranked by what actually matters after graduation: earnings, completion rates, and what you actually pay. Federal data. No surveys, no sponsorships.

Schools in ranking

New Hampshire schools in dataset

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How We Rank New Hampshire Colleges

Rankings use a composite score from verified federal data: graduate earnings (28%), graduation rate (25%), social mobility via Pell Grant share (20%), debt burden (15%), and net cost for low-income students (12%). Where a school has not reported one of these, that component is dropped and the remaining weights are rescaled rather than filled in with an estimate. Only 4-year non-profit schools with sufficient data qualify.

→Earnings: Median annual earnings 10 years after enrollment. Source: College Scorecard.
→Graduation rate: Full-time first-time students completing within 150% of normal time. Source: IPEDS.
→Net price: Average annual cost after all grants and scholarships. Source: IPEDS.
→Social mobility: Share of students receiving Pell Grants — a direct measure of access for low-income students. Source: IPEDS.
→Debt burden: Median federal loan debt at graduation. Source: College Scorecard.

Top 10 Colleges in New Hampshire (2026)

Ranked by composite: earnings, graduation rate, social mobility, debt, affordability.

#	School	Accept	Net Price/yr	Grad Rate	Earnings (10yr)
1	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	5.4%	$28,619	96%	$97,434
2	Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH	99.5%	$33,742	43%	$50,318
3	Thomas More College of Liberal Arts Merrimack, NH	50%	$21,511	63%	$53,565
4	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH	88.2%	$24,762	76%	$66,479
5	University of New Hampshire at Manchester Manchester, NH	80.9%	$13,097	50%	$66,479
6	University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies Online Manchester, NH	50%	$14,106	30%	$66,479
7	Keene State College Keene, NH	90.3%	$20,405	60%	$54,368
8	Saint Anselm College Manchester, NH	78%	$34,744	80%	$73,371
9	Plymouth State University Plymouth, NH	87.5%	$20,280	52%	$57,304
10	Rivier University Nashua, NH	82.6%	$27,692	52%	$52,248

13 New Hampshire schools in dataset. Top 10 shown. Data: IPEDS + College Scorecard. Updated annually.

All 13 Colleges in the Dataset

The ranking above shows the top 10 by composite score. Every school in the full dataset is listed here so you can explore beyond the top results.

Colby-Sawyer College Dartmouth College Franklin Pierce University Keene State College New England College Plymouth State University Rivier University Saint Anselm College Southern New Hampshire University Thomas More College of Liberal Arts University of New Hampshire at Manchester University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies Online University of New Hampshire-Main Campus

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Find Your Perfect Fit in New Hampshire

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