These Are Louisiana’s Best Colleges for 2026, According to WalletHub

(KMDL-FM) - If you have a high school senior, you are likely trying to guide them as to what life's next chapter will entail. Are they going straight into the workforce or looking at some sort of postsecondary education?

Chances are if it's the latter, you are in the process of looking at schools right now. That can be a daunting task.

How WalletHub Ranked Louisiana’s Colleges

The folks at WalletHub are trying to help college-bound seniors make the most informed choices when it comes to schools. They compared 800 higher-education institutions in the U.S. based on 30 key measures grouped into seven categories, such as Student Selectivity, Cost & Financing, and Career Outcomes.

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The data included things from student-faculty ratio to graduation rate, to post-attendance median salary.

The Top 10 Louisiana Colleges for 2026

And after all that analysis, the research showed these are the top 10 colleges and universities in Louisiana:

1. Tulane University
2. McNeese State University
3. University of Louisiana at Monroe
4. Dillard University
5. University of New Orleans
6. Louisiana Tech University
7. Xavier University
8. University of Louisiana at Lafayette
9. Centenary College
10. Nicholls State University

Tulane’s Strong Showing in the Rankings

As you can see on the list, Tulane took the top spot in Louisiana. Here's how they performed in certain metrics (1 = Best; 7 = Average; 14 = Worst):

• 1st - Admission Rate
• 14th - Net Cost
• 1st - Student-Faculty Ratio
• 6th - On-Campus Crime
• 6th - Gender & Racial Diversity
• 1st - Graduation Rate
• 1st - Post-Attendance Median Salary

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Why LSU Didn’t Make the List

Here's the big question: Where is LSU on this list? It appears that for some reason, the biggest university in the state was not included amongst the nearly 800 institutions included in this study.

So, take this list with the proverbial grain of salt.

The Top Schools in the Country

On the national scale, the Top 5 Universities in 2026 look like this:

1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. Yale University
4. Dartmouth College
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

To view the complete College & University Rankings for 2026 by Wallet Hub, go here: https://wallethub.com/edu/e/college-rankings/40750