These MD Colleges Earned Top Scores On New National Ranking

Several Maryland colleges have been named to Money’s 2025 Best Colleges in America ratings, which focuses on affordable institutions, have strong academic programs and give graduates a strong shot at a good salary after graduation.

Money said its 11th annual ratings can give families of college-bound students some control in the uncertain landscape and help them find a college they can afford, with the academic programs and campus culture they want.

The 732 colleges are those where students are most likely to graduate and land jobs, Money said.

Schools from Maryland include:

University of Maryland - College Park
Star rating: 4.5
Acceptance rate: 45 percent
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $32,050
Estimated price with average aid: $16,800
Graduation rate: 85 percent

Towson University
Star rating: 4.5
Acceptance rate: 83 percent
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $32,570
Estimated price with average aid: $16,000
Graduation rate: 74 percent

Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore
Star rating: 4.5
Acceptance rate: 76 percent
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $78,440
Estimated price with average aid: $33,800
Graduation rate: 81 percent

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Star rating: 4.5
Acceptance rate: 8 percent
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $89,310
Estimated price with average aid: $24,200
Graduation rate: 94 percent

Washington College, Chestertown
Star rating: 4
Acceptance rate: 66 percent
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $76,690
Estimated price with average aid: $35,600
Graduation rate: 73 percent

University of Maryland - Baltimore County
Star rating: 4
Acceptance rate: 74 percent
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $33,380
Estimated price with average aid: $18,800
Graduation rate: 70 percent

St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City
Star rating: 4
Acceptance rate: 75 percent
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $33,750
Estimated price with average aid: $21,900
Graduation rate: 72 percent

Salisbury University
Star rating: 4
Acceptance rate: 89 percent
Estimated full cost, 2025-2026: $30,640
Estimated price with average aid: $19,000
Graduation rate: 71 percent

Money looks at about two dozen data points to assemble the final lists, which were weighted by affordability (40 percent) and quality of education and outcomes, including post-graduation salaries (30 percent each).

Money said its ranking comes as the Trump administration reshapes higher education, including cuts to research grant funding, increased taxes on endowment, shrinking federal funding for some college access programs, and a crackdown on international student enrollment. The recently signed budget bill also makes changes to federal Pell grants and overhauls student loans.

“The volume of higher ed news right now is, frankly, overwhelming,” Marc Zawel, who cofounded the admissions consulting company AcceptU in 2009, told Money. “There’s a lot of noise that [students are] trying to work through to make sense of what actually affects them.”

Go here to see all rankings.

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