Green College Rankings

The Princeton Review’s new green rating evaluates colleges and universities on their environmentally-related policies, practices and academic offerings.  The result is a numerical score on a scale of 60-99.   You will find each college’s (534 of them) green rating on the Campus Life / Facilities tab of their school’s profile.

On Planet Green’s “Focus Earth” which aired on Saturday, September 6th the feature some of the colleges that have been ranked by Princeton Review. The findings are based on a compilation of scores from several categories, including environmental practices, policies and course offerings. Each category then looked at more specific action items such as energy efficiency, food options, as well as long term goals such as how well students are being prepared for “employment and citizenship in a world defined by environmental challenges.” Schools were given a score between 60 and 99 demonstrating their extent of
sustainability and commitment to the environment.

Green Honor Roll section gives high marks to 11 out of the 99 top green colleges, designating these universities as the best of the best as far as green is concerned. The top 11 Honor Roll universities (in alphabetical order) are Arizona State University (Tempe Campus), Bates College (Lewiston, ME), College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME), Emory University (Atlanta, GA), Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA), Harvard College (Cambridge, MA), State University of New York at Binghamton, University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH), University of Oregon (Eugene, OR), University of Washington (Seattle, WA), and finally Yale University (New Haven, CT).

The rankings can be found in their three upcoming college ranking books, The Best 368 Colleges, The Best Northeastern Colleges and The Complete Book of Colleges. The Princeton Review also offers Green College Guides online comparing green rankings and with other characteristics like quality of life and economics. The School Visit section provides a list of questions prospective students should ask when determining if a campus really takes green seriously.

Image Source: Planet Green / Getty Images