UH ranked no. 74 by the U.S. News and World Report – The Cougar

The U.S. News and World Report ranked UH at the 74th position in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report Top Public School rankings. 

Though there is a slight shift from ranking 70th to 74th, UH advanced in student success metrics and continues its commitment to its vision of the Top 50 Public Universities. 

“While rankings fluctuate, what matters most is our continued focus on student success and the steady progress we are making in that area,” said Chancellor and President Renu Khator in a press release. 

These 2025 rankings come as UH improved its six-year graduation rate, now at 65%, marking a 14 percentage point increase since 2015.

UH’s one-year retention rate also saw gains and was ranked 36 in social mobility among all national universities. 

“The university anticipates that as graduation rates continue to rise, particularly the goal of reaching a 70% graduation rate, it will experience more substantial movement in the rankings in the coming years,” said executive director of media relations Kevin Quinn. 

While UH maintained to gain points for its retention rates, it did lose points as metrics related to the success of first-generation students were removed. 

UH is placed in a highly competitive landscape where only five points separate UH from the top 50 public universities, according to the press release by UH.

“As we continue our progress toward becoming a top 50 public university, our vision remains clear, and our commitment to student success unwavering. We expect to see even greater gains as we build on the foundation we have set,” Khator said. “Our community, students and supporters can rest assured that we will continue to strive for excellence in every area that matters most.”

The rankings are calculated and determined based on 17 factors where peer assessment and graduation rates hold the most value with 20% and 16% in 2024, respectively.

Other factors include graduation rate performance, borrower debt, full-time faculty, standardized tests, student-faculty ratio and faculty salaries

The University was also ranked no. 144 in the National Universities criteria, no. 65 in best undergraduate business no. 122 in best value schools and no. 79 in best undergraduate engineering.

According to UH and its administration, the University will continue to work toward its reaching goal of becoming a top 50 public school in the nation.

Earlier this year, UH was also ranked in the top 50 Forbes ranking, climbing 22 spots.

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