UH‘s 4-year campuses shine in U.S. News 2026 college rankings

EDITOR’s NOTE:  HPU ranks 86th in the west in the US News and World Report College Rankings for 2026.  Will update when HPU news release is sent out.  BYUH and Chaminade were not ranked.  Meanwhile here is the news release from UH system. 

from UH News, September 23, 2025

The University of Hawaiʻi’s three 4-year universities earned national recognition in the U.S. News and World Report 2026 Best Colleges rankings released on September 23, including four top 10 regional rankings for UH West Oʻahu.

UH Mānoa, UH Hilo and UH West Oʻahu were ranked among the top 4-year institutions by U.S. News and World Report out of approximately 2,630 4-year institutions nationwide based on up to 17 measures (depending on ranking category) of academic quality, including graduation and retention rates, peer assessments, financial resources and student excellence.

“These rankings reflect the hard work and dedication of our faculty, staff and students across all three UH 4-year campuses,” UH President Wendy Hensel said. “They show that we are continuing to provide Hawaiʻi students with a high-quality, affordable education while preparing them to lead in their communities and beyond.”

UH Mānoa

The flagship campus of the UH System ranked No. 92 as a top U.S. public university; No. 122 for best colleges for veterans; No. 169 overall in the country; and No. 189 in social mobility, which measures how well schools graduated students who were federal Pell Grant recipients.

The Shidler College of Business came in at No. 109 among the best undergraduate business programs out of 533 ranked undergraduate business programs.

The School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene is the No. 118 best undergraduate nursing program among 686 ranked undergraduate nursing programs.

The Department of Economics in the College of Social Sciences ranked No. 139 for best undergraduate economics programs in the nation.

The College of Engineering placed No. 150 among the best undergraduate engineering programs that offer doctoral degrees in the country.

The Department of Information and Computer Sciences in the College of Natural Sciences ranked as the No. 177 best undergraduate computer science program out of 601 ranked programs.

The Department of Psychology in the College of Social Sciences ranked No. 196 out of the top 682 best undergraduate psychology programs in the nation.

UH Hilo

UH Hilo ranked No. 178 as a top U.S. public university, No. 204 for social mobility and No. 329 overall among the top 434 national universities—a classification based on offering a wide range of undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs, emphasizing research, as explained in the rankings categories below.

UH Hilo’s School of Nursing is the No. 186 best undergraduate nursing program in the country, the College of Business and Economics placed No. 254 among the 533 best undergraduate business programs, and the Department of Psychology ranked No. 297 out of the best 682 undergraduate psychology programs.

UH West Oʻahu

UH West Oʻahu ranked No. 3 for best public colleges in the West, No. 3 for best colleges for veterans among regional colleges in the West, No. 8 overall among regional colleges in the West (two spots higher than last year and five spots higher than the year prior) and No. 8 for social mobility for regional colleges in the West (five spots higher than last year and 13 spots higher than the year prior).

Ranking categories

UH Mānoa and UH Hilo were ranked in the national universities category, which featured institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master’s and doctoral programs, and emphasize faculty research or award professional practice doctorates.

UH West Oʻahu is in the regional colleges in the West category, which includes schools that focus on undergraduate education and grant fewer than 50% of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines.