Whether you're just out of high school and attending college for the first time or you're a returning student who wants to finish attaining your degree, you deserve a safe and welcoming campus. That's why College Choice has created the ultimate list of the safest small colleges and universities in the country. Though the idea of safety can be relative – for one it may mean they feel welcome no matter how they identify and for another it may mean a space free of alcohol and drugs – a safe campus can generally be understood as one with low crime incidents, robust security, protection for its female and minority students, and a sense of inclusion. Not surprisingly, the safest schools tend to be private, smaller in student population, and located in smaller towns, though that's not necessarily true for all; stay tuned for our 50 Safest Large Colleges and Universities ranking. Below are the country's 50 safest small colleges and universities. They range from everything including business and technology schools to art schools and Christian colleges.
What are the safest small colleges and universities in America?
At College Choice we believe in providing the most thorough data that reflects our extensive and exhaustive research findings. To find the safest colleges we have combed through those campuses, as well as their local cities and neighbors, that boast the lowest crime rates. We further pared from there by collating the reported crime activities from each school for the past three years. We pulled data on the respective school's general crime report as well as the number of documented hate crimes, violence against women, arrests made, and discipline enforced activities for each. Those colleges and universities below with a College Choice score of 100 had zero incidents in all categories for the past three years.
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More on the Data Points:
General safety grade: The general safety grade takes into account the past three years of theft, assault, arson, and other offenses.
Women's safety grade: This reflects the overall VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) offenses that have occurred in the past three years, including domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and sexual assault.
Party scene grade: This takes into account the number of drug and alcohol incidents a campus reported over the past five years.
Anti-discrimination grade: This reflects the number of hate crimes reported by a school over the past three years.
Our data comes the U.S. Department of Education, as well as from the university and colleges' websites, U.S. News & World Report, and The National Center for Education Statistics.
Safest Small Colleges and Universities in America
See our rankings methodology page.
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