See the best public universities for 2027, according to Niche

(NEXSTAR) – While the cost of an education may not be getting any cheaper, a new analysis released Tuesday seeks to help school shoppers identify the top public universities for 2027. Niche, an education research platform, published the results as part of its annual set of nationwide school rankings. 'Public universities are an engine for social mobility. They give students access to great academic programs and research opportunities, often at a more affordable cost than private institutions,' said Allison Shrivastava, economist at Niche, told Nexstar in an email. 'Year after year, the top-ranked publics show just how much opportunity these institutions have to offer students from many backgrounds and ZIP codes.' The top school in the ranking, according to Niche's analysis, is the University of California at Los Angeles, in Los Angeles. The large public university has an acceptance rate of 9%, Niche found, and roughly 33,470 undergraduate students. The school boasts a graduation rate of 93%, and the top areas of study are economics, political science and government, and psychology. 'The schools at the top of this year's Top Public Universities list are some of the biggest names in higher education, but they aren't interchangeable,' Shirvasta said. 'Each offers a different mix of academics, values, and campus experience. That's exactly what our rankings are designed to surface so that students can build their college list with confidence.' See the top 25 public universities, according to Niche, below: Rank School Metro Area/City State 1. University of California – Los Angeles Los Angeles Area CA 2. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor Detroit Area MI 3. University of Virginia Charlottesville VA 4. Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Area GA 5. University of Texas – Austin Austin Area TX 6. University of Florida Gainesville FL 7. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign IL 8. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Raleigh Area NC 9. University of California – Berkeley San Francisco Bay Area CA 10. University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison Area WI 11. University of California – San Diego San Diego Area CA 12. Florida State University Tallahassee Area FL 13. University of Georgia Athens Area GA 14. University of California – Davis Sacramento Area CA 15. Texas A&M University College Station TX 16. University of Washington Seattle Area WA 17. William & Mary Norfolk Area VA 18. The Ohio State University Columbus Area OH 19. Virginia Tech Blacksburg VA 20. Penn State University Park PA 21. University of California – Irvine Los Angeles Area CA 22. Purdue University West Lafayette IN 23. University of South Florida Tampa Area FL 24. University of Maryland – College Park Washington, D.C. Area MD 25. New Mexico Tech Socorro NM See the complete list on the Niche website. The new ranking comes amid recent reports of ballooning student loan default numbers. Across the country, the number of borrowers with defaulted student loans jumped by more than 4.2 million from April 2025 to March 2026, according to an Associated Press analysis. The surge includes many who went off track in 2024, when loan payments started coming due again after a pandemic-era freeze. Hundreds of thousands more are months behind on payments, and another surge in defaults could be on the way. Millions of borrowers are facing higher monthly payments as the government dismantles its most affordable income-driven repayment option, the SAVE plan, one of several changes the Education Department says are intended to simplify a fragmented system. The Associated Press contributed to this report.