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Best Colleges in Ohio

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

10

Schools in ranking

96

Ohio schools in dataset

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How We Rank Ohio 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 Ohio (2026)

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

#	School	Accept	Net Price/yr	Grad Rate	Earnings (10yr)
1	Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science Cincinnati, OH	45.7%	$17,570	73%	$66,111
2	Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH	36.5%	$44,000	87%	$87,989
3	Ohio Northern University Ada, OH	74.4%	$25,941	75%	$80,928
4	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH	60.6%	$19,783	88%	$60,409
5	Mount Carmel College of Nursing Columbus, OH	84.3%	$10,065	54%	$75,103
6	Kenyon College Gambier, OH	31%	$46,859	82%	$71,830
7	Mercy College of Ohio Toledo, OH	93.2%	$15,311	56%	$65,409
8	University of Dayton Dayton, OH	65.4%	$32,794	80%	$75,537
9	Kettering College Kettering, OH	76.5%	$22,036	65%	$67,492
10	Gods Bible School and College Cincinnati, OH	75.3%	$13,252	40%	$37,722

96 Ohio schools in dataset. Top 10 shown. Data: IPEDS + College Scorecard. Updated annually.

All 96 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.

A

4

Allegheny Wesleyan College Art Academy of Cincinnati Ashland University Aultman College of Nursing and Health Sciences

B

5

Baldwin Wallace University Bluffton University Bowling Green State University-Firelands Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bryant & Stratton College-Parma

C

10

Capital University Case Western Reserve University Cedarville University Central Ohio Technical College Central State University Clark State College Cleveland Institute of Art Cleveland Institute of Music Cleveland State University Columbus College of Art & Design

D

2

Defiance College Denison University

F

2

Franciscan University of Steubenville Franklin University

G

2

Gods Bible School and College Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science

H

3

Heidelberg University Herzing University-Akron Hiram College

J

2

James A. Rhodes State College John Carroll University

K

10

Kent State University at Ashtabula Kent State University at East Liverpool Kent State University at Geauga Kent State University at Kent Kent State University at Salem Kent State University at Stark Kent State University at Trumbull Kent State University at Tuscarawas Kenyon College Kettering College

L

2

Lake Erie College Lourdes University

M

10

Malone University Marietta College Mercy College of Ohio Miami University-Hamilton Miami University-Middletown Miami University-Oxford Mount Carmel College of Nursing Mount St. Joseph University Mount Vernon Nazarene University Muskingum University

N

1

North Central State College

O

17

Oberlin College Ohio Christian University Ohio Dominican University Ohio Northern University Ohio State University-Lima Campus Ohio State University-Main Campus Ohio State University-Mansfield Campus Ohio State University-Marion Campus Ohio State University-Newark Campus Ohio University-Chillicothe Campus Ohio University-Eastern Campus Ohio University-Lancaster Campus Ohio University-Main Campus Ohio University-Southern Campus Ohio University-Zanesville Campus Ohio Wesleyan University Otterbein University

S

1

Shawnee State University

T

4

The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences The College of Wooster The University of Findlay Tiffin University

U

11

University of Akron Main Campus University of Akron Wayne College University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash College University of Cincinnati-Clermont College University of Cincinnati-Main Campus University of Dayton University of Mount Union University of Northwestern Ohio University of Rio Grande University of Toledo Ursuline College

W

7

Walsh University Washington State College of Ohio Wilberforce University Wilmington College Wittenberg University Wright State University-Lake Campus Wright State University-Main Campus

X

1

Xavier University

Y

1

Youngstown State University

Z

1

Zane State College

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