A&T: America’s Top Public HBCU, Most Affordable Doctoral Research University and a Leading Social Mobility Campus

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Nov. 17, 2025) – As the most high-profile university rankings for the current academic year conclude, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has logged several important new recognitions of its quality and impact.

LinkedIn, the venerable social networking platform focused on professional connections and career development, released its first college rankings this fall and named North Carolina A&T America’s No. 1 public historically Black college or university (HBCU) and No. 4 among all HBCUs.

The LinkedIn rankings are built on exclusive data from its own platform looking at career outcomes of alumni, such as job placement rates and advancement into senior-level positions, or how many alumni held an internship during their degree or started their own company after graduation.

This approach assessed U.S. institutions according to five criteria: knowledge breadth, career success, network strength, internships and recruiter demand, and job placement. The company also assessed the network strength of each college, considering the level of interconnection among graduating classes.

The goal: to reveal “which schools are actually delivering on opportunity,” said LinkedIn Special Projects Editor Juliette Faraut. LinkedIn created lists for the Top 50 Best Colleges, top 10 public universities and top 10 liberal arts colleges, as well as the top 10 HBCUs.

A&T is the only North Carolina campus to make the HBCU list. Duke University and Wake Forest University – both recognized on the Top 50 Best Colleges rankings – are the only  North Carolina schools to make any of the other three lists.

A&T also maintained its position this academic year as the most affordable doctoral research university in the nation, per the editors of Money magazine. According to Money magazine’s “Best Colleges in America 2025,” A&T has the lowest estimated total cost to attend of its doctoral research peers.

A&T held the same position in the magazine’s 2024 and 2023 ratings. The designation is based on Money’s weighted analysis of typical cost factors each student faces, including net price to attend, average student debt and ability to repay debt and net price of a degree.

A&T’s “estimated full price for 2025-26” was $21,460, which ranked it well ahead of all other doctoral research campuses and No. 7 among all campuses. Once the average financial aid package factored in, the A&T price tag dropped by nearly half to $10,900.

Finally, in U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Colleges rankings, A&T continued to be ranked one of America’s 40 best performers in social mobility, as well as one of the nation’s top 130 public universities. The social mobility rankings assess how effective a university is in preparing its graduates for careers that can change the course of their lives and socioeconomic status.

The spring semester will see two more major rankings published by U.S. News: “Best Online Programs” will come out in January, and “Best Graduate Programs” rankings are due out next April.