Photo: Bryan Pollard / iStock Editorial / Getty Images
FLORIDA - The University of Florida remains the highest-ranking college in the state but dropped slightly in Forbes’ 2025 list of America’s top colleges.
UF is ranked 30th overall and fifth among public universities, down from fourth among publics and 28th overall last year.
Forbes highlighted challenges facing U.S. higher education, noting political pressures, reduced research funding, limits on international student enrollment, changes to endowment taxes, and adjustments to student loan programs.
Despite these factors, the magazine stated that American colleges continue to provide high-quality undergraduate education.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology returned to the top spot in the 2025 rankings, followed by Columbia University, Princeton University, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
Ivy League institutions dominate the top of the list, with five of the eight schools in the top ten and all eight within the top twenty.
UF had been recognized in 2024 as one of Forbes’ 10 “New Ivys” for producing highly employable graduates but was not included in this year’s list. The university is also undergoing a leadership transition.
On August 25, the Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Donald Landry, a professor of medicine at Columbia University, as interim president, shortly before interim President Kent Fuchs’ contract expires.
Ben Sasse, the previous president, resigned after 17 months, and UF’s sole presidential finalist, Dr. Santa Ono, former president of the University of Michigan, was rejected by the Board of Governors after scrutiny of his handling of campus protests, gender-affirming care, climate policy, pandemic response, and past support for diversity initiatives.
Other Florida colleges on the Forbes list include Florida State University at 72, University of Miami at 76, and University of South Florida at 112, with additional schools ranked among the nation’s top 500.