RIVERDALE, N.Y. — Manhattan University has been named in TIME Magazine’s inaugural “America’s Best Colleges 2026-2027” ranking, produced in partnership with Statista, the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The University was recognized among the top 500 colleges nationwide out of a pool of eligible U.S. institutions.

TIME and Statista’s methodology is built around the value an institution provides to its students. The ranking places the greatest weight (75%) on Student Outcomes, measuring graduates’ earnings, graduation rates, and return on education relative to what would be expected given a student body’s characteristics. Together, these measures are designed to isolate the value an institution adds beyond what could be predicted simply by the students it enrolls.

The remaining weight is split between Learning Environment (15%), which considers student-to-faculty ratio, core expenditure per student, and diversity, and Attractiveness (10%), which measures how strongly prospective students seek out an institution through admission and enrollment yield rates.

“This recognition by TIME affirms what we have always believed at Manhattan University: that a truly great education is measured not just by what happens inside the classroom, but by the doors it opens for our graduates long after they leave campus. To be named among the top 500 colleges in the nation, out of thousands of eligible institutions, is a testament to the dedication of our faculty and staff and to the strength of our Lasallian mission,” said Frederick Bonato, Ph.D., President of Manhattan University.

The ranking draws exclusively on publicly available federal data, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics, the College Scorecard from the U.S. Department of Education, and the American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Our goal has always been to make sure every resource we allocate translates into real value for our students,” said Rani Roy, Ph.D., Manhattan University’s Executive Vice President for Business Operations. “These are the same measures we hold ourselves to internally, and this ranking is an encouraging signal that the way we manage and invest in this institution is directly connected to the outcomes our graduates go on to achieve.”

With graduate earnings, completion rates, and return on investment increasingly central to how families evaluate colleges, this ranking offers a data-driven affirmation of the outcomes Manhattan University students achieve after graduation.

Media Contact:
Robert Cole
Executive Director of Marketing and Communications
Manhattan University
Phone: 718-862-7993
Email: rcole01@manhattan.edu