A top national business magazine has named St. Cloud State among the nation’s 650 best colleges.
Forbes ranks St. Cloud State 583rd among its “America’s Top Colleges.” The most recent federal data documents 3,004 four-year colleges in the U.S.
The America’s Top Colleges honor means St. Cloud State is among the elite 20 percent of the nation’s colleges and universities.
St. Cloud State and Minnesota State University, Mankato (531) are the lone Minnesota State system schools to make the list.
St. Cloud State and Minnesota State University, Mankato join Augustana University (396) and University of Minnesota, Duluth (442) as the only members of the 16-school Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference to be named top colleges.
St. Cloud State is one of just five Minnesota public schools ranked in 2019: University of Minnesota (98), University of Minnesota-Morris (375), University of Minnesota-Duluth (442), Minnesota State University Mankato (531) and St. Cloud State (583).
Forbes rankings
| Year | Ranking |
| 2018 | 554 |
| 2017 | 571 |
| 2016 | 563 |
| 2015 | 562 |
| 2014 | 566 |
| 2013 | 504 |
View Forbes’ 650-college ranking
Other rankings of note are National Collegiate Hockey Conference rivals Colorado College (84), University of Denver (155), Miami University (159), University of North Dakota (444), University of Nebraska, Omaha (514) and Western Michigan University (577).
The Forbes ranking is output-focused, because that’s what students care about, according to editors Justin Conklin, Carter Coudriet and Caroline Howard.
“The value of a college degree may not mean the same thing to the parents involved in this year’s admissions cheating and bribery scandal as it means to the some 6 million first-generation college students in the U.S. Or to most of us. There’s a difference between gaming the system and having a shot at the American Dream. So when it comes to the question everyone seems to be asking, ‘Is college worth it?’ we emphatically say yes,” Conklin, Coudreit and Howard write in the project introduction.
Forbes’ methodology is rooted in post-graduate success, student debt, student experience, graduation rate, academic success and alumni leadership.
The ranking draws from data sources such as the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the Department of Education’s College Scorecard, Payscale and Niche.
Forbes does not include for-profit schools, such as University of Phoenix and Capella University.
An American business website and bi-weekly, Forbes has published since 1917. This is the 13th year Forbes has ranked colleges and universities.
