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Best Education Colleges in Virginia

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 18 schools · Agent Insights
18
Schools Analyzed
$51,691
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
53%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$20,533
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 18 institutions on graduation rates, graduate earnings, debt burdens, and social mobility data from Opportunity Insights. Every data point comes from federal sources. No surveys, no opinions.

Social mobility carries the heaviest weight in our algorithm. We use Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card — built on 30 million anonymized tax records — to measure whether a college changes a family's economic trajectory across generations. Schools that take low-income students and launch them into higher earnings rank higher than schools that admit wealthy students and take credit for their success.

The transparency penalty matters here. Schools that don't report their data get scored lower than schools that do. If an institution won't show you its numbers, we think you should know that before you write them a tuition check.

Quick Numbers

Schools ranked 18
Avg. earnings at 10yr $51,691
Avg. graduation rate 53%
Avg. net price $20,533
Avg. median debt $25,019

How We Ranked

Education programs in Virginia ranked by outcomes and program concentration

Read our full methodology →

Earnings vs. Cost

Each dot is a ranked school. Up = higher earnings. Right = higher cost. Top-left is the best value.

$15K$68K$120K$0$50KNET PRICEJames MadisonLongwood UniversityUniversity ofVirginia CommonwealthOld Dominion

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

James Madison University80%Longwood University61%University of Mary Washi…67%Virginia Commonwealth Un…64%Old Dominion University45%Roanoke College67%Randolph College49%Virginia State University40%Emory & Henry University55%Virginia Wesleyan Univer…46%Ferrum College30%Shenandoah University69%Mary Baldwin University43%Bluefield University22%University of Lynchburg60%Virginia Union University39%Regent University56%Liberty University64%

Top 3

#1

James Madison University

Harrisonburg, VA

Graduation80%
Earnings$69,954
Net Price$23,322

View full profile →
#2

Longwood University

Farmville, VA

Graduation61%
Earnings$52,347
Net Price$19,066

View full profile →
#3

University of Mary Washington

Fredericksburg, VA

Graduation67%
Earnings$60,613
Net Price$20,667

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Full Rankings

#1

James Madison University

Harrisonburg, VA · 20,888 students · Public

72% accepted 80% graduate $69,954 earnings
James's full profile
#2

Longwood University

Farmville, VA · 3,015 students · Public

90% accepted 61% graduate $52,347 earnings
Longwood's full profile
#3

University of Mary Washington

Fredericksburg, VA · 3,566 students · Public

80% accepted 67% graduate $60,613 earnings
University's full profile
#4

Virginia Commonwealth University

Richmond, VA · 20,753 students · Public

93% accepted 64% graduate $58,128 earnings
Virginia's full profile
#5

Old Dominion University

Norfolk, VA · 17,514 students · Public

90% accepted 45% graduate $54,914 earnings
Old's full profile
#6

Roanoke College

Salem, VA · 1,767 students · Private nonprofit

83% accepted 67% graduate $58,047 earnings
Roanoke's full profile
#7

Randolph College

Lynchburg, VA · 658 students · Private nonprofit

94% accepted 49% graduate $53,409 earnings
Randolph's full profile
#8

Virginia State University

Petersburg, VA · 5,074 students · Public

89% accepted 40% graduate $45,543 earnings
Virginia's full profile
#9

Emory & Henry University

Emory, VA · 1,078 students · Private nonprofit

84% accepted 55% graduate $47,385 earnings
Emory's full profile
#10

Virginia Wesleyan University

Virginia Beach, VA · 1,256 students · Private nonprofit

73% accepted 46% graduate $50,074 earnings
Virginia's full profile
#11

Ferrum College

Ferrum, VA · 699 students · Private nonprofit

89% accepted 30% graduate $44,296 earnings
Ferrum's full profile
#12

Shenandoah University

Winchester, VA · 2,116 students · Private nonprofit

77% accepted 69% graduate $58,433 earnings
Shenandoah's full profile
#13

Mary Baldwin University

Staunton, VA · 1,090 students · Private nonprofit

43% graduate $44,427 earnings
Mary's full profile
#14

Bluefield University

Bluefield, VA · 614 students · Private nonprofit

59% accepted 22% graduate $48,896 earnings
Bluefield's full profile
#15

University of Lynchburg

Lynchburg, VA · 1,577 students · Private nonprofit

43% accepted 60% graduate $56,380 earnings
University's full profile
#16

Virginia Union University

Richmond, VA · 1,203 students · Private nonprofit

98% accepted 39% graduate $38,275 earnings
Virginia's full profile
#17

Regent University

Virginia Beach, VA · 4,729 students · Private nonprofit

38% accepted 56% graduate $44,498 earnings
Regent's full profile
#18

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA · 50,012 students · Private nonprofit

99% accepted 64% graduate $44,813 earnings
Liberty's full profile

Sources & Citations

[1]

U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Data. Federal Student Aid, National Center for Education Statistics. →

[2]

National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). →

DK

David Krug

Co-Founder, CollegeRanker

David Krug is the co-founder of CollegeRanker and a data systems architect focused on making institutional research accessible to families. He builds the data pipelines and ranking algorithms that power CollegeRanker, drawing from federal datasets and Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights research to measure what traditional rankings ignore: whether a college actually changes a family's economic trajectory.

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