Based on surveys by students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania—which recognized the university for “highly personalized attention and support”—IUP has been selected for The Princeton Review’s 2026 Best Colleges guidebook.
IUP has been included in the guidebook for more than two decades.
Surveys and interviews with students are the basis for selection for the annual guidebook. Schools in the guidebook are ranked in several categories, including academics, admissions selectivity, and financial aid.
The guidebook narrative about IUP recognizes IUP’s commitment to student success and individualized support:
“From the first day a student sets foot on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus, they receive highly personalized attention and support. Each student is immediately assigned a professional mentor, and students say one of the school’s greatest strengths are these ‘staff and faculty who aim to help the students academically, personally, or professionally.’ Affirms one student, ‘they want to ensure we all have a good and safe experience at IUP.’”
The guidebook also quotes students as describing the IUP community as “widely diverse, yet inclusive, [which] creates a wonderful environment to want to be a part of.”
The guidebook continues: “Students here are ‘supportive, collaborative, and unique’ and ‘provide a welcoming environment for [incoming] students’ of all kinds, including the ‘very welcoming’ LGBTQIA student body and international population. This is ‘a group of people that likes to try new things… and ‘everyone has their own style and views,’ and ‘seems to be respectful of each other.’”
Students interviewed for the publication recognize that IUP professors “‘care a lot about the success of their students and go out of their way to help them truly understand what is being taught.’” Students also recognized the value of IUP’s more than 200 clubs and organizations and said that “‘most people are in the routine of going to classes, studying, and either balancing work, an extracurricular, or a varsity sport,’” and that the academic workload “‘is challenging but doable.’”
The guidebook’s entry about IUP closes with recognition of all that IUP offers to students: “All in all, the ‘opportunity that IUP provides students in terms of activities, networking, and future career guidance’ is at a high level, especially for ‘great on-campus job[s]’ and there are ‘a lot of resources around campus to help you with anything you could think of.’”
IUP offers 100 academic majors, more than 60 graduate programs, and more than 40 graduate degrees. In addition, students can complete more than 70 minors—including a unique teamwork minor—and scores of specialized tracks and certificate programs, including certificates in athletic coaching, photography and digital imaging, popular music, geospatial intelligence, and public history.
IUP is the only member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education selected for the 2025 Opportunity College and University-Higher Access, Higher Earnings designation by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education, which recognizes institutions with graduates who earn salaries that are 50 percent above (or more) than their peers in similar fields and institutions providing access to students that reflect the communities that they serve.
Only 20 Pennsylvania public institutions earned the Higher Access, Higher Earnings designation, and only 16 percent (479) of colleges and universities in the nation earned the recognition, which was also open to career-focused area institutions.
IUP has a longstanding commitment to research on all levels and in all disciplines. In spring 2025, IUP earned an R2 Doctoral University–High Spending and Doctorate Production classification from the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in its 2025 Research Activity designations, one of only two public universities in Pennsylvania and one of only 97 public universities with this ranking nationwide. IUP first received the R2 ranking in 2022.
Only six universities in Pennsylvania hold the R2 status, and only 139 universities in the United States have the R2 status. More than 3,900 colleges and universities are included in the ranking system.
IUP is routinely selected by national publications and websites for excellence, including College Magazine’s top 10 colleges and universities in Pennsylvania, U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” list, Washington Monthly’s national ranking of universities based on contributions to society, in Forbes Magazine as one of “America’s Top Colleges,” as the number two most affordable college in Pennsylvania by Academic Influence, and in a number of national rankings for excellence and affordability of online programs.
Since its founding in 1875, IUP has evolved from a teacher-training institution into a doctoral research university recognized for its commitment to student success and achievement. As IUP celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2025, the university honors a legacy of educational excellence while looking toward a future of innovation, leadership in healthcare education, and public service.