In Top 500, SUNY Oneonta Rises

63 Points On Forbes College List

ONEONTA – For the third year in a row, SUNY Oneonta is among the top 500 colleges in the country, according to Forbes magazine, rising 63 points in the rankings in just one year.

In its 2017 “America’s Top Colleges” rankings, the business journal placed Oneonta at No. 153 in the Northeast, No. 134 among public institutions, and No. 407 overall. Since its debut on the list in 2014, SUNY Oneonta has jumped 113 spots in the overall rankings, including 67 spots from 2016 to 2017.

Now in its tenth year, Forbes’ “Top Colleges” ranking has always placed its focus on the direct benefits a college or university provides its students, according to its explanation of methodology. Factors considered by Forbes include student satisfaction, post-graduate success, student debt, graduation rate and academic success. Favoring output over input, the business journal avoids common metrics such as acceptance rate, endowment and freshmen SAT scores, numbers that, according to its editors, “say far more about a school’s ‘prestige’ than its actual effectiveness” and instead uses variables like alumni salary, graduation rate and student satisfaction.

The Forbes ranking is the fourth in recent weeks recognizing SUNY Oneonta’s academic quality and value. Earlier this month, U.S. News and World Report ranked SUNY Oneonta No. 48 on its “Best Regional Universities–North” list and No. 13 among public institutions in the region.

In August, TIME’s financial publication, MONEY, ranked SUNY Oneonta No. 182 out of 711 schools on its “Best Colleges for Your Money” list.

Also in August, AffordableColleges.com named SUNY Oneonta to its 2017 list of the nation’s “50 Most Affordable Public Schools for Out-of-State Students” and ranked the college No. 31 on its list of “50 Most Affordable In-State Public Universities.”