Princeton University and NJIT have been named New Jersey’s top-ranked private and public universities in TIME magazine’s inaugural “America’s Best Colleges 2026-2027” rankings.
Princeton landed at No. 4 nationally among all 500 ranked schools; NJIT came in at No. 95 overall and No. 38 among public institutions nationwide, making it the state’s highest-ranked public university on the list.
The rankings were produced with data research firm Statista. What sets TIME’s ranking apart is what it’s actually measuring.
Rather than the broad mix of academic reputation, selectivity, faculty resources and financial factors that go into more established rankings, TIME built its list almost entirely around one question: does a degree pay off? Student outcomes — including graduate earnings, graduation rates and return on investment — account for 75% of a school’s score, with learning environment worth 15% and attractiveness to prospective students making up the remaining 10%.
That formula produces a notably different picture of New Jersey higher education than the state’s other go-to ranking, from U.S. News & World Report.
In this year’s U.S. News rankings, Princeton also finished No. 1 nationally, but NJIT and Stevens Institute of Technology were tied at No. 80 among national universities, with Rutgers-New Brunswick at No. 42, Rutgers-Newark at No. 75, and Rutgers-Camden at No. 97.
Under TIME’s outcomes-driven formula, that order shifts substantially. Stevens ranks ahead of NJIT nationally — No. 30 compared to NJIT’s No. 95 — while Rutgers-New Brunswick, U.S. News’s second highest-ranked New Jersey school, comes in at No. 157 under TIME. The gap illustrates how heavily a methodology built around earnings and ROI can reorder even well-known schools relative to rankings built on reputation and resources.
In total, 17 New Jersey colleges and universities made TIME’s list of 500 nationally, from Princeton at No. 4 to Felician University at No. 494.
Here’s where every New Jersey school landed on TIME’s list:
No. 4: Princeton (Princeton)
No. 30: Stevens (Hoboken)
No. 95: NJIT (Newark)
No. 99: The College of New Jersey (Ewing)
No. 149: Montclair State (Montclair)
No. 157: Rutgers (New Brunswick, Newark and Camden)
No. 218: Saint Peter’s (Jersey City)
No. 245: Ramapo (Mahwah)
No. 288: Stockton (Galloway)
No. 290: Rowan (Glassboro)
No. 298: Drew (Madison)
No. 305: Monmouth (West Long Branch)
No. 340: Seton Hall (South Orange)
No. 379: Kean (Union)
No. 382: William Paterson (Wayne)
No. 421: FDU (Teaneck and Florham Park)
No. 494: Felician (Lodi/Rutherford)
