St. Mary’s College of Maryland is the sixth-ranked national public liberal arts college in the 2027 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges, one spot lower than its No. 5 placement in the 2026 edition, according to a news release the college posted Oct. 5. The same release pairs that result with a fifth-place finish on The Princeton Review’s list of public schools for making an impact, a set of senior survey results and a profile of the fall 2026 entering class.
The one-place drop comes in a category that, by the college’s account, has changed shape. St. Mary’s says the number of ranked national public liberal arts colleges grew from 19 in 2026 to 39 in 2027 after Carnegie reclassifications added 23 institutions. U.S. News said it moved to the 2025 Carnegie Classification for this year’s rankings, which shifted roughly one in five schools among categories, so a larger peer group is consistent with the change. The Chronicle could not independently confirm the 19 and 39 counts, because the U.S. News category page was not accessible, and the figures as released do not fully reconcile: 19 plus 23 added would be 42, so a few schools must have left the group. They are the college’s numbers.
The Princeton Review result is easier to check. The company’s Top 20 Best Schools for Making an Impact (Public Schools) list shows St. Mary’s at No. 5, behind William & Mary, Washington State, UC Davis and the University of Mary Washington. That is a step back from last year, when the college reported a No. 2 placement on the same list. Over the past few years the college has bounced around the top of that ranking; the Chronicle reported it climbing to No. 4 in 2024, up from No. 11 the year before. The list draws heavily on student survey responses about community service, student government, sustainability and campus engagement.
The release also says Niche has ranked the college’s food No. 1 in Maryland every year since 2022. The college’s own rankings page lists the 2026 Niche food ranking at No. 1 in Maryland; the earlier years are the college’s claim.
President Rhonda Phillips, who began her tenure in July 2025, used the release to play down any single score. “External recognition provides one important perspective on the quality of St. Mary’s College, but no single ranking tells the whole story,” Phillips said. “The strongest evidence is found in what our students experience and accomplish.”
The college points to its 2026 Senior Exit Survey as that evidence. Among respondents, 97% said they felt connected to a faculty or staff member, 92% said the experience improved their ability to think critically, and 93% said it improved their understanding of different perspectives. The release does not give the number of respondents or the response rate, so the percentages cannot be weighed against the size of the graduating class.
The entering class is the other data point. The college says about 400 first-time students and 80 transfer students arrived this fall. Among first-time students, 38% are students of color and 29% are first in their families to attend college; among transfers, 39% are first-generation. St. Mary’s has not published a total fall 2026 headcount. Its key facts page lists 1,646 students in fall 2025, a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, and describes the school as the first standalone public honors college in the nation, a state designation dating to 1992. “National Public Honors College” is the college’s own branding line rather than a separate outside ranking.
“Students and families are looking closely at academic quality, personal attention, opportunity and affordability as they relate to outcomes,” said David Hautanen Jr., vice president for enrollment management. He said families find “a public honors education where students are challenged academically, known by their professors and have meaningful opportunities to put what they learn into practice.”
Affordability is part of that pitch, and the numbers are public. For 2026-27, the college’s tuition and fees page lists Maryland-resident tuition of $12,855 and mandatory fees of $3,495, or $16,350 for a commuter. With a traditional double room and the Silver meal plan, billable charges total $32,525; non-resident students would pay $49,579. Those figures leave out books, transportation and personal expenses. Trustees approved a 3% tuition increase in June 2025, the first since 2019, following five straight years of frozen tuition reported in 2024. The college’s rankings page also lists a Princeton Review Best Value placement and a Washington Monthly “Best Bang for the Buck” designation from 2025, though neither is part of the latest release.
The college has had a busy few weeks outside the rankings. It has partnered with Ulster University on global learning, created a fast track to nine graduate programs at Towson, and, under Phillips, launched its Compass strategy for student success. Whether those efforts move the college’s standing will not be known until the next rankings cycle, when the larger public liberal arts field will again be the yardstick.
