The Princeton Review's Guide to Green Colleges-2026 Edition Is Out

College of the Atlantic #1 on Top 50 Green Colleges List

NEW YORK, Oct. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Princeton Review^® today posted the 2026 edition of its annual Guide to Green Colleges—a free online resource the company has published since 2010 for college applicants interested in attending colleges that practice and promote environmental responsibility.

Accessible at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide, the 2026 edition of the Guide profiles 388 colleges that The Princeton Review editors selected out of 401 institutions the company surveyed for this year's project.

The Guide also features a ranking list of the Top 50 Green Colleges of the 388 colleges profiled. The top 25 schools that made this list are indicated below. The full list is viewable here.

The Princeton Review selected the 388 schools for the Guide and tallied its Top 50 list primarily based on data from the company's surveys of administrators at the colleges in 2024–25. The 25-question survey requested information about each institution's sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs. The company also surveyed students attending the colleges about their experiences at their schools including administrator and student support for environmental awareness and conservation efforts on the campus.

More than 25 survey data points were analyzed to tally Green Rating scores for the schools. Developed to provide a measure of a school's performance as an environmentally aware and prepared institution, the Green Ratings are reported on a scale of 60 to 99. (The Green Rating methodology is described here.) The 388 colleges chosen for the Guide earned Green Rating scores of 80 or higher. They are listed in alphabetical order in the Guide. Their annually updated profiles on PrincetonReview.com include application and admission information, as well as their Green Rating scores and details of their sustainability-related campus distinctions and practices.

On the Top 50 Green Colleges ranking list, the school that ranked #1—and for the 10th consecutive year­—is the College of the Atlantic (Brunswick, ME). Renowned for its commitment to environmental sustainability, the college awards bachelor's and master's degrees exclusively in Human Ecology. In 2007, it became the first college in the U.S. to achieve carbon-neutrality, and it has committed to becoming a fossil fuel-free campus by 2030. The College of the Atlantic 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 book, The Best 391 Colleges: 2026 Edition (August 12, 2025).

American University (DC), #2 on the Top 50 Green Colleges list, also has an extraordinary record of green distinctions. In 2010, it committed to become carbon-neutral by 2020 and it attained that goal in 2018—two years ahead of its target. Its Sustainability Strategic Plan 2030 outlines the university's 113 goals across six focus areas.

The methodology for the Top 50 Green Colleges list is explained here.

"Since we debuted our Green Guide in 2010, we have seen dramatic growth in the number of colleges committing to sustainability practices—from constructing green-certified buildings to sourcing food locally," said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief, The Princeton Review. "We applaud each one of the colleges that made our Guide's 2026 edition, and we highly recommend these schools to students who want their 'best-fit' college to also be a green one."

Franek noted growing interest The Princeton Review has seen among college applicants in attending green colleges. "Of more than 7,000 students that participated in our 2025 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 59% said having information about a college's commitment to the environment would affect their decision to apply to or attend the school."

Franek also noted The Princeton Review's release of its Guide to Green Colleges annually coincides with Campus Sustainability Month—the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)'s annual international celebration of sustainability in higher education. "We join with AASHE in promoting environmental sustainability and shining a light on the colleges and universities (and their students) that demonstrate exceptional commitment to it."

As a group, the 388 schools in The Princeton Review's 2026 Guide to Green Colleges have highly impressive "green" statistics:

• 18% of their energy comes from clean and renewable sources
• 38% of their waste is diverted from incinerators or solid-waste landfills
• 94% have a sustainability officer
• 98% offer a sustainability focused undergraduate major or degree

Of the 388 schools in the Guide, 322 are in the U.S., 33 are in Canada, and 33 are in 16 other countries abroad. Thirty-seven of the 388 schools earned a Green Rating score of 99 (the highest possible score). They are named to The Princeton Review's Green Honor Roll that appears on PrincetonReview.com as well as in the company's book, The Best 391 Colleges (August 12, 2026).

The top 25 schools on The Princeton Review's Top 50 Green Colleges list for 2026 are:

1. College of the Atlantic (ME)
2. American University (DC)
3. Lehigh University (PA)
4. Loyola Marymount University (CA)
5. Bennington College (VT)
6. University of California, Santa Cruz
7. University of California, Merced
8. University of Cincinnati (OH)
9. University of Massachusetts—Amherst
10. Stephens Institute of Technology (NJ)
11. University of Vermont
12. University of North Carolina at Asheville
13. Grand Valley State University (MI)
14. Randolph College (VA)
15. Bates College (ME)
16. State University of New York—Stony Brook
17. Bentley University (MA)
18. Macalester College (MN)
19. New York University (NY)
20. University of California—Irvine
21. University of St. Thomas (MN)
22. Northeastern University (MA)
23. Dickinson College (PA)
24. Luther College (IA)
25. University of New Hampshire

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; a line of more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House; and dozens of categories of school rankings. Founded in 1981, the company is now in its 44th year. The company's Tutor.com brand, now in its 25th 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 28 million tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review, headquartered in New York, NY, is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com. Follow the company on Instagram (@theprincetonreview), LinkedIn (the-princeton-review), YouTube (@ThePrincetonReview), and TikTok (@princeton.review).

WEBSITE: www.princetonreview.com

SOURCE The Princeton Review