Best Colleges in New Hampshire

Why Should I Consider Studying in New Hampshire?

‘’Overall, New Hampshire is the perfect place’’

The writing team asked other members of staff to recount their (positive) feelings and specific memories from places they had lived so we could better write about states we had only visited. One of the members on staff who had lived in New Hampshire ended their section with the sentence: ‘’Overall, New Hampshire is the perfect place.’’ We try not to break the fourth wall very often, but we felt it was such a powerful testament to the state’s natural beauty, fantastic culture, and just how truly great it is to live there that we just had to do it.

Anyway, in regard to the colleges and universities in New Hampshire, the two most well known schools are the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College. Dartmouth, an Ivy League school, is a world-renowned liberal arts college with a small student body and intense focus on the undergraduate experience. The University of New Hampshire, with a larger but not huge student population, is best known for its excellent business and engineering programs.

Keene State College and Plymouth State University are both in rural parts of New Hampshire - though on opposite ends of the state. Offering a view of New Hampshire with picturesque farmland and rolling hills, these colleges provide students in the state with access to a wide variety of degrees and programs.

New Hampshire Higher Education By The Numbers

Colleges in New Hampshire

New Hampshire has the 11th fewest colleges in the nation with 35 colleges located there. For some context, that's 48 fewer colleges than the ordinary state. 37% of New Hampshire's colleges are public, and 63% of its colleges are private. (13 public colleges & 22 private colleges). It has the 25th highest public to private college ratio of all the states.

Our favorite colleges in New Hampshire are Dartmouth College, Saint Anselm College, and University of New Hampshire-Main Campus. University of New Hampshire-Main Campus has the most students of any public college in New Hampshire's top 25 colleges with 16,001. Southern New Hampshire University has the most students of any private college in our top 25 (167,841).

Students in New Hampshire

The median state has 314,827 college students. New Hampshire has 70,624 fewer. There are 53,494 public college students and 190,709 private college students in New Hampshire. It has more public college students than 6 states and fewer private college students than 11 states. Its 244,203 total students make it the 19th least popular destination in the United States of America. 78% of New Hampshire's students go to private institutions which is the 2nd highest percentage nationwide.