Ranked, compared, and filtered by real data: costs, outcomes, and admissions
Connecticut punches well above its weight in higher education. Yale anchors one of the world's great research traditions in New Haven, and UConn in Storrs has grown into a genuine comprehensive research university that serves the state's public education mission.
Smaller liberal arts colleges like Wesleyan, Trinity, and Connecticut College give the state an unusually rich private college landscape, and their proximity to New York and Boston means internship and career access is never more than a train ride away.
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See how Connecticut's colleges compare to the national average on the four measures most students and families weigh when deciding where to go: cost, acceptance rates, graduate earnings, and graduation rates.
The colleges in Connecticut that rank highest by UCD Score, and those that deliver above-national graduate earnings at a below-average net price, two of the strongest signals when choosing a school.
Not every student is looking for the same thing. These six panels rank Connecticut's colleges by the data that matters most for each path.
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by net price
Ranked by enrollment
Ranked by grad earnings
Which colleges give you the most for what you spend? These eight schools rank highest in Connecticut by the ratio of 10-year graduate earnings to annual net price.
| # | College | Net Price / yr | Earnings (10yr) | Ratio | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury | $10,875 | $73,997 | 6.8× | Excellent |
| 2 | University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton | $13,807 | $73,997 | 5.4× | Excellent |
| 3 | University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford | $16,403 | $73,997 | 4.5× | Excellent |
| 4 | University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford | $16,798 | $73,997 | 4.4× | Excellent |
| 5 | Yale University New Haven | $23,777 | $100,533 | 4.2× | Excellent |
| 6 | Charter Oak State College New Britain | $15,815 | $64,209 | 4.1× | Excellent |
| 7 | Connecticut State Community College New Britain | $11,513 | $41,344 | 3.6× | Strong |
| 8 | Central Connecticut State University New Britain | $16,857 | $58,562 | 3.5× | Strong |
ROI Ratio = median earnings 10 years after enrollment ÷ annual net price. Higher is better.
The six fields of study with the most annual graduates across all colleges in Connecticut, based on IPEDS completion data.
The specific degree programs producing the most graduates across Connecticut's colleges. A more granular view than the Popular Majors above, useful when you already know roughly what you want to study and want to see where the volume is.
The cities in Connecticut with the most colleges, ranked by number of institutions.
Utah crowds 14,137 students into each of its colleges, four times the national norm. These are the states where college options are scarcest per student.
There are 170 colleges that operate a medical school, and they cluster hard. Texas leads with 14, three states hold a fifth of them, and four states have none.
Northeast college graduates earn about $12,700 more a decade out than Southern ones, but they also pay thousands more to get there. The regional split, by the numbers.
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
Scout uses AI and can make mistakes. Verify important numbers on the page.
