by our College Data Analytics TeamSterling College is a private not-for-profit institution in Craftsbury Common, Vermont enrolling 50 undergraduates. It accepts 67% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 32%, near the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #2,704 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 52%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Sterling College ranks #2,704 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 52%.
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
College Factual ranked Sterling as #2,704 out of 5,159 colleges and universities in the country on its 2027 Best Colleges list.
Sterling also holds the #12 spot on the Best Colleges in Vermont ranking.
See all of the rankings for Sterling College.
Sterling College has an acceptance rate of 67%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for Sterling.
Learn more about Sterling College admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Sterling is an impressive 7 to 1. That’s quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Sterling College is 72%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 86% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Sterling College enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That’s certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor’s degree within four years. At Sterling this rate is 32%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Sterling College.
During the most recent academic year, there were 50 undergraduates at Sterling.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Sterling College.
The average net price of Sterling is $17,140. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Sterling, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Sterling, approximately 37% of students took out student loans averaging $6,979 a year. That adds up to $27,916 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 3.1%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Sterling College.
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Sterling College make about $30,573 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is about 38% less than the average pay for college graduates overall. However, graduates with your major may make more.
See which majors at Sterling College make the most money.
Sterling College is a private not-for-profit institution located in Craftsbury Common, Vermont. The rural area surrounding Sterling is great for students who love a peaceful atmosphere. Get more details about the location of Sterling College.
Contact information for Sterling College are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 16 Sterling Drive, Craftsbury Common, VT 05827-0072 |
| Phone: | 8025867711 |
| Website: | www.sterlingcollege.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/SterlingCollegeVT |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/sterlingcollege |
In the most recent reporting year, students from 6 majors graduated from Sterling College. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 27 | NA |
| Natural Resources Conservation | 14 | NA |
| Ecology & Systematics Biology | 4 | NA |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 4 | NA |
| Agricultural Production | 3 | NA |
| Outdoor Education | 2 | NA |
Interested in comparing Sterling? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free tool for head-to-head college comparisons.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.