[title]
New York City may be brutally expensive, but one local university apparently still offers enough academic bang for your very considerable buck.
Columbia University has been named the eighth-best college in the country in TIME’s inaugural America’s Best Colleges of 2026-2027 ranking. The Morningside Heights institution finished just behind the University of Pennsylvania and one spot ahead of Claremont McKenna College. Harvard University rounded out the top 10.
RECOMMENDED: This Brooklyn school was just ranked the best high school in all of New York City
Stanford University claimed first place, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvey Mudd College, Princeton University, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the California Institute of Technology.
To create the ranking, TIME partnered with the data research firm Statista to identify colleges that offer strong value for students. But rather than relying solely on academic reputation or exclusivity, the list evaluates schools across three broad categories: student outcomes, learning environment and attractiveness to prospective students.
Columbia earned an overall score of 91.62 out of 100. Its strongest marks were in attractiveness, with a score of 99.33, and learning environment, with 95.17. Its student outcomes score was slightly lower at 89.88 (which still sounds perfectly respectable until you remember what tuition costs these days).
The ranking arrives as students and families are paying closer attention to the return on a college education, including how effectively a degree can translate into a well-paying career. “We need to be more outcome-oriented, more career-oriented when we think about what we’re recommending for students in higher ed,” John Friedman, a professor of economics and international and public affairs at Brown University, told TIME.
Columbia was the only New York City school to break into the top 10, but it was not the city’s only strong performer. CUNY’s Bernard M. Baruch College landed at No. 47, scoring especially well for student outcomes, while the Fashion Institute of Technology came in at No. 51. TIME specifically highlighted FIT’s efforts to give students career information for specialized majors including technical design, packaging design, toy design and spatial experience design. Elsewhere in New York State, Cornell University ranked 13th and Binghamton University placed 58th.
Between Columbia’s ranking, its Upper Manhattan campus and the fact that students can get a bacon-egg-and-cheese at nearly any hour, Stanford should probably watch its back!