Fairfield Ranked in Top 20% on Forbes’ List of America’s Top Colleges in 2019

Fairfield Ranked in Top 20% on Forbes’ List of America’s Top Colleges in 2019 

The University improved its ranking by 10 spots, placing at No. 135 out of 650 schools included in the national list and putting Fairfield in the top 20% of colleges and universities in the United States.

Media Contact: Nicole Funaro, nicole.funaro@fairfield.edu, 203-254-4000 x3498

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (August 23, 2019) — Fairfield University has once again been named to Forbes’ annual list of America’s Top Colleges, this year improving its ranking by 10 spots and placing at No. 135 out of 650 schools included in the national list. The ranking puts Fairfield in the top 20% of colleges and universities in the United States.

Fairfield also improved its position on both the regional ranking of Forbes’ Top Colleges in the Northeast and its ranking of Top Private Colleges. The University climbed five spots higher to No. 100 in the Northeast region out of 203 schools, and came in at No. 64 out of 400 schools on Forbes’ comparison of private colleges and universities, placing Fairfield in the top 16% of all private colleges and universities included in this year’s ranking. 

Forbes’ list of the top colleges in America is based on six ranking categories: alumni salary, which accounts for 20% of a school’s score and looks at a combination of early and midcareer salaries as reported by the federal College Scorecard and PayScale data and research; student satisfaction, which accounts for 20% of a school’s score and includes Niche survey data results on professor quality, as well as freshman retention data from IPEDS; debt, which accounts for 20% of a school’s score and looks for low student debt totals and default rates; American leaders, which accounts for 15% of a school’s score and is based on Forbes’ database of successful people and where they have studied; on-time graduation rate, which accounts for 12.5% of a school’s score and examines both four- and six-year rates; and academic success, which accounts for 12.5% of a school’s score and “rewards schools whose alumni win prestigious scholarships and fellowships like the Rhodes and the Fulbright or have earned PhDs.”

Fairfield’s ascent in the national and regional rankings is linked to its high 90% freshman-to-sophomore retention rate, its generous financial aid offerings, and its 82% graduation rate. Forbes also cites Fairfield’s “quality Jesuit education” and “plethora of Fulbright scholars” as additional noteworthy assets for the University’s high marks in their 2019 ranking.

For more information on Fairfield rankings, visit fairfield.edu/rankings.

Posted On: August 23, 2019

Volume: 52 Number: 12

Fairfield University is a modern, Jesuit University, rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 36 states, 47 foreign countries, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are enrolled in the University’s five schools.  In the spirit of rigorous and sympathetic inquiry into all dimensions of human experience, Fairfield welcomes students from diverse backgrounds to share ideas and engage in open conversations. The University is located in the heart of a region where the future takes shape, on a stunning campus on the Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.