Small But Mighty Colleges Featured in 2020’s Hidden Gems Rankings

IOWA CITY, IA – College Raptor announced its 2020 Hidden Gems Rankings, which spotlights great but lesser-known colleges as part of their overall mission of helping students and parents find “The Right College, The Best Price™.” Raptor has helped millions of families to discover college options that best fit a students’ academic, cultural, and financial profile.

Notable standouts for 2020 included Wheaton College, which has topped the Hidden Gems in the U.S. list in Illinois for the fifth consecutive year, and Samford University in Alabama, which is featured on four separate lists. Newcomers for 2020 included Muhlenburg College in Pennsylvania and Loyola University of New Orleans in Louisiana.

In addition to College Raptor’s overall Hidden Gems in the U.S. and best gems by region, the company curated new niche lists that highlight schools with popular degree programs and schools with the lowest student loan debt levels. New this year are rankings for “Hidden Gems for Teaching,” “Hidden Gems for Nursing,” “Hidden Gems with the Lowest Average Federal Student Loan Debt,” and “Hidden Gems in the City.”

It is impossible for families to be familiar with all of the 3,000 colleges that grant four-year degrees. That is why the Hidden Gems Rankings are so impactful in expanding a family’s scope of quality choices. Further, CollegeRaptor.com helps students calculate personalized match scores and costs at every school in the U.S. through advanced AI algorithms.

“We’ve created the best site for families to identify their best college options at a price they can afford. Sometimes this means helping families find colleges that they may not have known about but are great fits for the student,” says Bill Staib, College Raptor’s CEO. “Each student is unique and so is every school. We take pride in making it easy for students to make new connections to colleges through our Hidden Gems Rankings lists and college match tools.”

View the complete College Raptor 2020 Hidden Gems at www.collegeraptor.com/hidden-gems-2020/.

View 2020’s new lists:
Hidden Gems for Teaching
Hidden Gems for Nursing
Hidden Gems with the Lowest Average Federal Student Loan Debt
Hidden Gems in the City

College Raptor builds mobile-first products to help students, parents, counselors, and colleges resolve some of the most significant challenges in college planning. It is the only college search platform that enables students and families to discover quality, affordable college options based on personalized estimates of financial aid, scholarships, academic match, and acceptance chances at every four-year college in the country. As a result, students and their families find cost-effective, academically appropriate college options that prepare them for their career. For more information about College Raptor, visit www.CollegeRaptor.com.

Featured

  • classroom with crystal ball on top of a desk

    Call for Opinions: Spaces4Learning 2026 Predictions for Educational Facilities

    As 2025 winds to a close, the Spaces4Learning staff is asking its readers—school administrators, architects, engineers, facilities managers, builders, superintendents, designers, vendors, and more—to send us their predictions for educational facilities in 2026.

  • University of Southern Mississippi Starts Construction on Oyster Hatchery

    The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) recently announced that construction has begun on a new oyster hatchery at its Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL) Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center (TCMAC) Cedar Point campus in Ocean Springs, Miss., according to a news release.

  • Three U.S. Universities Install Acre Security Access Control Platform

    Cloud-native physical and digital security solutions company Acre Security recently announced that it has deployed its access control platform at three major universities in the U.S., according to a news release. Acre partnered with Atrium Campus to provide coverage for more than 69,000 students at the University of Virginia (UVA), George Mason University, and Rockhurst University.

  • Texas K–12 District to Build New Elementary, High Schools

    The High Island Independent School District on the Bolivar Peninsula in Southeast Texas recently announced that construction on a new elementary school and a new high school will begin in January 2026, according to local news. Funding will come from a $27.9-million bond passed in May 2025.

Digital Edition