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Raritan Valley Community College has been included in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2026 Edition. RVCC is among 388 schools selected for the Guide, and the only community college in New Jersey to be highlighted. The College’s 2026 Green rating was 92 out of a possible 99.

Published since 2010, the free, online resource is designed for college applicants who are interested in attending schools that practice and promote environmental responsibility. Of the 388 schools in the Guide, 322 are in the U.S., 33 are in Canada, and 33 are located in 16 other countries abroad.

The Princeton Review selected the 388 schools for the Guide primarily based on data from the company’s surveys of administrators at the colleges in 2024-2025. The 25-question survey requested information about each institution's sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs. The company also surveyed students attending the colleges about their experiences at their schools, including administrator and student support for environmental awareness and conservation efforts on the campus.

RVCC's commitment to environmental sustainability shines in academics, research, service learning, grounds stewardship, and operations. The College offers degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Science, while majors across departments feature sustainability coursework and themes, and student interns in the Center for Environmental Studies collaborate with faculty and staff on research and projects to advance sustainability on campus.

The campus features pollinator gardens, a rain garden, an indoor green wall, a green roof, and rainwater harvesting systems, and is River Friendly and a Bee Campus USA affiliate. RVCC has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 58% since 2005 by adding solar installations and improving energy efficiency. In 2022, the College earned a Gold rating in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a program of AASHE, The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

More than 25 survey data points were analyzed to tally Princeton Review’s Green Rating scores for the schools. Developed to provide a measure of a school’s performance as an environmentally aware and prepared institution, the Green Ratings are reported on a scale of 60 to 99. The 388 colleges chosen for the Guide earned Green Rating scores of 80 or higher.

“Since we debuted our Green Guide in 2010, we have seen dramatic growth in the number of colleges committing to sustainability practices—from constructing green-certified buildings to sourcing food locally,” said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief, The Princeton Review. “We applaud each one of the colleges that made our Guide’s 2026 edition, and we highly recommend these schools to students who want their ‘best-fit’ college to also be a green one.”

As a group, the 388 schools in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2026 Edition have highly impressive “green” statistics:

•    18% of their energy comes from clean and renewable sources
•    38% of their waste is diverted from incinerators or solid-waste landfills
•    94% have a sustainability officer
•    98% offer a sustainability focused undergraduate major or degree

For additional information about The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2026 Edition, visit https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/green-guide.

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October 28, 2025

Media contact: Donna Stolzer, 908-526-1200, ext. 8383