The Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges: 2025 Edition Is Out
College of the Atlantic #1 on Top 50 Green Colleges List
NEW YORK, October 15, 2024 / — The Princeton Review ® today posted the 2025 edition of its annual Guide to Green Colleges —a free online resource the company has published since 2010 for college applicants interested in attending schools that foster a culture of environmental responsibility.
Based primarily on surveys the company conducted in 2023–2024 of administrators at nearly 600 colleges, and analyses of more than 25 survey data points, the Guide profiles 511 schools. The schools were selected for their exceptional programs, policies, and practices related to sustainability and the environment. See “How the Schools Were Chosen” below.
Accessible at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide, the Guide also features a ranking list of the Top 50 Green Colleges. A list of the top 25 colleges on the top 50 Green Colleges list is below.
For the 9th consecutive year, the College of the Atlantic in Maine earned the #1 spot on the Top 50 Green Colleges list. Its green distinctions are exceptional as is its mission: the College awards bachelor’s and master’s degrees exclusively in Human Ecology. In 2007, the College became the first college to achieve carbon-neutrality in the U.S. and it has committed to becoming fossil-fuel–free by 2030. It is also #1 on The Princeton Review list, Green Matters: Everyone Cares About Conservation , one of 50 categories of ranking lists in the company’s recently-published book, The Best 390 Colleges: 2025 Edition (August 2024).
American University in DC, #2 on the Top 50 Green Colleges list, is also a carbon-neutral college, having committed in 2010 to meet this goal by 2020, and having met it two years early in 2018. Pitzer College in CA, #3 on the list, is the home of the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability. In the school's own words: "Like the tree in the College's logo, environmental sustainability branches across every aspect of our curriculum, campus and programs."
"We are seeing substantive interest among college applicants in attending green colleges,” said Rob Franek , Editor-in-Chief, The Princeton Review. Of the nearly 8,000 high school students that participated in the company's 2024 College Hopes & Worries Survey , 61% said having information about a college's commitment to the environment would affect their decision to apply to or attend the school.
“Since we created our Green Guide in 2010, we have also seen dramatic growth in the number of colleges committing to sustainability practices—from sourcing food locally and constructing LEED-certified buildings to making commitments to becoming fossil fuel-free,” Franek added. “We are proud to shine our light on these exceptional schools and to recommend them to students who want their ‘best-fit’ college to also be a green one.”
The top 25 schools on The Princeton Review's Top 50 Green Colleges list for 2025 are:
- College of the Atlantic (ME)
- American University (DC)
- Pitzer College (CA)
- State University of New York—College of Environmental Science and Forestry
- Emory University (GA)
- Williams College (MA)
- University of North Carolina at Asheville
- University of Vermont
- Colorado State University
- Dickinson College (PA)
- Colby College (ME)
- Loyola University—Chicago (IL)
- University of Miami (FL)
- Bennington College (VT)
- New York University
- University of California—Irvine
- Lewis & Clark College (OR)
- Skidmore College (NY)
- Randolph College (VA)
- Bates College (ME)
- Luther College (IA)
- Arizona State University
- Loyola Marymount University (CA)
- Lehigh University (PA)
- University of Massachusetts—Amherst
The list of the Top 50 Green Colleges is viewable here. (Note: Beyond the Top 50 list, the colleges in the Guide are not ranked from 51 to 511.)
As a group, the schools in the 2025 Edition of the Guide to Green Colleges have impressive sustainability-related statistics:
- 28% of their energy comes from clean and renewable sources
- 46% of their waste is diverted from incinerators or solid-waste landfills
- 98% offer a sustainability focused undergraduate major or degree
- 100% have a sustainability officer
The profiles in the Guide to Green Colleges report The Princeton Review's Green Rating score for the schools and cite some of their green distinctions, programs and practices. The profiles also include information about the schools' academics and admission requirements.
The Princeton Review annually releases its Guide to Green Colleges during Campus Sustainability Month —an international celebration of sustainability in higher education by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Said Franek, "We salute the AASHE for calling attention to this issue and we join with all organizations encouraging practices that promote environmental sustainability. We also applaud the commitment we see among an increasing number of students to living 'green.'"
How the Schools Were Chosen for the Guide
The Princeton Review chose the colleges for this edition based on its 2023–2024 survey of administrators at nearly 600 colleges about their institutions' sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs. The company also surveyed students attending the colleges about their "green" campus experiences. More than 25 data points from the survey were analyzed to tally Green Rating scores for the schools on a scale of 60 to 99. Colleges that earned a Green Rating score of 80 or higher were selected for this edition of the Guide . Of the 511 schools selected, 460 are in the U.S., 31 are in Canada, and the remaining 20 schools are in Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Equador, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates. The Princeton Review’s Green Rating scores appear in the profiles of the schools on PrincetonReview.com as well as in its profiles in the company’s book, The Best 390 Colleges: 2025 Edition (August 2024). Forty-five of the 511 schools in the Guide earned a Green Rating score of 99, the highest possible score. They are named to The Princeton Review's Green Honor Roll (reported in August 2024 on PrincetonReview.com). Note: The schools in the Guide to Green Colleges are listed alphabetically by school name.
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. 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. The methodology is described on PrincetonReview.com.
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; 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 43 rd year. The company’s Tutor.com brand, now in its 24 th year, is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 27 million tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review 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 .
- # # # -
Editors Note:
Alphabetical lists of the colleges in the Guide are accessible on Princeton Review.com two ways:
- by location (country/state/school) at: www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/green-guide/green-colleges-by-location, and
- by school name at: www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/green-guide/green-schools-full-list.
Rob Franek , Editor-in-Chief, and David Soto, Senior Director of Data Operations at The Princeton Review are available for interviews on this project. Contact Jeanne Krier, Publicist for The Princeton Review at pressoffice@review.com.
- 0 -
