The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2024 Edition Press Release

NEW YORK, October 24, 2023 / — The Princeton Review®  today posted the 2024 edition of its annual Guide to Green Colleges—an online resource the company has published since 2010 for college applicants wanting to attend schools that foster a culture of environmental responsibility.

Based primarily on the company’s surveys of administrators at 683 colleges in 2022–23 and its analyses of more than 25 survey data points, the 2024 edition of the Guide features profiles of 522 schools. Schools that were selected for the Guide all have exceptional programs, policies, and practices related to sustainability and the environment. (See “How the Schools Were Chosen…” below.)

The Guide to Green Colleges is accessible for free at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide. It feature profiles of the 522 schools with details on their green distinctions, academics, and admission requirements, plus a ranking list of the Guide’s Top 50 Green Colleges.

The College of the Atlantic in Maine earned the #1 spot on the Top 50 Green Colleges list for the 8^th consecutive year. Its green distinctions are exceptional as is its mission: the College awards bachelor’s and master’s degrees exclusively in Human Ecology. The school became the first carbon-neutral college in the U.S. in 2007, and it has committed to becoming fossil fuel–free by 2030. It is also #1 on The Princeton Review ranking list, Green Matters: Everyone Cares About Conservation, one of 50 ranking list categories in the company’s book, The Best 389 Colleges: 2024 Edition.

Another school in Maine, Colby College, is #2 on the Top 50 Green Colleges list and also a carbon-neutral college. Its campus has more than 15 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified buildings and spaces. New York University, #3 on the list, offers 20+ academic degrees and 600+ courses focused on sustainability. (A list of the top 25 schools on the top 50 list is below.) 

The Princeton Review’s release of its annual Guide to Green Colleges occurs during the annual October event, Campus Sustainability Month—an international celebration of sustainability in higher education by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

"With increasing concern about climate change, particularly among younger people who will be most affected by its long-term impact, we are seeing increasing interest among college applicants in attending green colleges” said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief, The Princeton Review. Of 8,800 applicants the company polled for its 2023 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 69% said having information about a college's commitment to the environment would affect their decision to apply to or attend the school. Of that cohort, 28% said such information would contribute “very much” or “strongly” to such a decision.

“Since we debuted our Green Guide 14 years ago, we have also seen dramatic growth in the number of colleges committing to sustainability-related practices—from sourcing food from local purveyors to constructing LEED- certified buildings to making fossil fuel-free commitments,” Franek added. “We are proud to shine our light on these exceptional schools. We recommend them enthusiastically to students who want their ‘best-fit’ college also to be a green one.”

The top 25 schools on The Princeton Review's Top 50 Green Colleges list for 2024 are:

1. College of the Atlantic (ME)
2. Colby College (ME)
3. New York University
4. Bennington College (VT)
5. Dickinson College (PA)
6. University of North Carolina at Asheville
7. Emory University (GA)
8. Gonzaga University (WA)
9. University of California—Irvine
10. University of California—Merced
11. Williams College (MA)
12. Loyola Marymount University (CA)
13. State University of New York—College of Environmental Science and Forestry
14. Colorado State University
15. American University (DC)
16. University of Vermont
17. Vanderbilt University (TN)
18. University of Massachusetts Amherst
19. Ithaca College (NY)
20. Northeastern University (MA)
21. University of Connecticut
22. Skidmore College (NY)
23. Washington State University
24. Iowa State University
25. Bucknell University (PA)

The full list of the Top 50 Green Colleges is viewable here.

As a group, these schools have impressive commitments to sustainability:

• 28% of their energy comes from clean and renewable sources
• 46% of their waste is diverted from incinerators or solid-waste landfills
• 100% offer a sustainability-focused undergraduate major or degree
• 100% have a sustainability officer

The Princeton Review profiles of all 522 schools in the Guide report the school’s Green Rating score (as determined by the company). The profiles also cite some of the schools’ green distinctions (as reported by the colleges on the survey). These may include the school’s uses of renewable energy, their recycling and conservation programs, and the availability of environmental studies in their academic offerings. Such information can be found in the school profiles under the tab “Campus Life” and sub-topic “Sustainability.”

How Schools Were Chosen for the 2024 Edition of this Guide

The Princeton Review chose the 522 colleges for this edition based on its 2022–23 survey of administrators at 683 colleges concerning their institutions' sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs. The company also surveyed students attending the colleges about their sustainability-related campus experiences. The company editors analyzed more than 25 data points from the surveys to tally Green Rating scores for the schools on a scale of 60 to 99. Colleges that earned a Green Rating of 80 or higher were selected for this edition of the Guide. Of the 522 schools selected, 474 are in the U.S., 30 are in Canada, four are in Ireland, three are in United Arab Emirates, two (each) are in Australia and Mexico, and one (each) is in Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Morocco, Philippines, and Taiwan.

Forty of the 522 schools in the guide earned a Green Rating score of 99, the highest possible score. They are listed in The Princeton Review's Green Honor Roll (reported August 2023). The Princeton Review’s Green Rating scores appear in the profiles of the schools on PrincetonReview.com and in the company’s book, The Best 389 Colleges: 2024 Edition (August 2023).

Note: The schools in the Guide to Green Colleges are listed alphabetically by school name. They are not ranked overall, from 1 to 522. 

How the Top 50 Green Colleges Ranking List Was Tallied

The Princeton Review tallied this list based on data from its surveys of administrators at colleges in the Guide as well as its surveys of students attending the colleges. The methodology factored in ten data points from the administrator survey and three data points from the student survey. Data from the student survey included student assessments of the influence of sustainability issues on their academic and campus experiences; administrator and student support for environmental awareness and conservation efforts; and the visibility and impact of student environmental groups on the campus.

About The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school-bound students as well as working professionals achieve their education and career goals through its many education services and products. These include online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors; online resources; a line of more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House; and dozens of categories of school rankings. Founded in 1981, The Princeton Review is now in its 42^nd year. The company’s Tutor.com brand, now in its 23^rd year, is one of the largest online tutoring services in the US. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 25 million one-to-one tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review, headquartered in New York, NY, is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com and the company’s Media Center. Follow the company on X (formerly Twitter) (@ThePrincetonRev) and Instagram (@theprincetonreview).

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