The Princeton Review ® posted the 2025 edition of its annual Guide to Green Colleges —a free online resource the company has published since 2010 for college applicants interested in attending schools that foster a culture of environmental responsibility.
Based primarily on surveys the company conducted in 2023–2024 of administrators at nearly 600 colleges, and analyses of more than 25 survey data points, the Guide profiles 511 schools. The schools were selected for their exceptional programs, policies, and practices related to sustainability and the environment.
“We are seeing substantive interest among college applicants in attending green colleges,” said Rob Franek , Editor-in-Chief, The Princeton Review. Of the nearly 8,000 high school students that participated in the company’s 2024 College Hopes & Worries Survey , 61% said having information about a college’s commitment to the environment would affect their decision to apply to or attend the school.
“Since we created our Green Guide in 2010, we have also seen dramatic growth in the number of colleges committing to sustainability practices—from sourcing food locally and constructing LEED-certified buildings to making commitments to becoming fossil fuel-free,” Franek added. “We are proud to shine our light on these exceptional schools and to recommend them to students who want their ‘best-fit’ college to also be a green one.”
As a group, the schools in the 2025 Edition of the Guide to Green Colleges have impressive sustainability-related statistics:
- 28% of their energy comes from clean and renewable sources
- 46% of their waste is diverted from incinerators or solid-waste landfills
- 98% offer a sustainability focused undergraduate major or degree
- 100% have a sustainability officer
The profiles in the Guide to Green Colleges report The Princeton Review’s Green Rating score for the schools and cite some of their green distinctions, programs and practices. The profiles also include information about the schools’ academics and admission requirements.
The Princeton Review annually releases its Guide to Green Colleges during Campus Sustainability Month —an international celebration of sustainability in higher education by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Said Franek, “We salute the AASHE for calling attention to this issue and we join with all organizations encouraging practices that promote environmental sustainability. We also applaud the commitment we see among an increasing number of students to living ‘green.'”
How the Schools Were Chosen for the Guide
The Princeton Review chose the colleges for this edition based on its 2023–2024 survey of administrators at nearly 600 colleges about their institutions’ sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs. The company also surveyed students attending the colleges about their “green” campus experiences. More than 25 data points from the survey were analyzed to tally Green Rating scores for the schools on a scale of 60 to 99. Colleges that earned a Green Rating score of 80 or higher were selected for this edition of the Guide . Of the 511 schools selected, 460 are in the U.S., 31 are in Canada, and the remaining 20 schools are in Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Equador, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates. The Princeton Review’s Green Rating scores appear in the profiles of the schools on PrincetonReview.com as well as in its profiles in the company’s book, The Best 390 Colleges: 2025 Edition (August 2024). Forty-five of the 511 schools in the Guide earned a Green Rating score of 99, the highest possible score. They are named to The Princeton Review’s Green Honor Roll (reported in August 2024 on PrincetonReview.com). Note: The schools in the Guide to Green Colleges are listed alphabetically by school name.
View the full list of green colleges
This article was originally published by The Princeton Review.