Montana College Rankings 2026: University of Montana Feels The Disrespect

The financial advice website WalletHub ranked the best colleges and universities in the state of Montana heading into 2026.

By the way, I can't believe we're already getting 2026 studies and lists. I thought 2025 JUST started. Then I look down, and it's October? That's not right... that can't be right. 

WalletHub's study didn't have nice things to say about the University of Montana compared to its counterparts in the Treasure State.

2026 Best Colleges in Montana Study

WalletHub looked at several factors to determine each state's best school.

• Admission Rates
• Net Costs
• Student-Faculty Ratio
• On-Campus Crime
• Gender & Racial Diversity
• Graduation Rate
• Post-Attendance Median Salary

"To help college-bound seniors make the most informed school choices, WalletHub compared nearly 800 higher-education institutions in the U.S. on 30 key measures grouped into seven categories. - WalletHub's Diana Polk.

After further review, the University of Montana didn't even crack the top 5. WalletHub's top 5 were:

• Carroll College
• University of Providence
• Rocky Mountain College
• Montana Tech
• Montana State

UM didn't even get a reference in the email I received from WalletHub Communications Manager Diana Polk. They didn't even have UM's stats listed in the email.

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Despite the low ranking from WalletHub, UM's enrollment continues to grow. UM News Service told us earlier this year that student enrollment has grown by 16%. There were 11,064 students enrolled in the Fall 2025 semester. 

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Also, there are people outside the state of Montana asking themselves, "Wait, there are more than 5 universities?"

Let the records show that Princeton was the top school in the nation and Carroll wasn't even in the top 300 schools. Yikes.