The education services company features HSU in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2021 Edition. Released on October 20, 2020, and accessible for free at princetonreview.com/green-guide, the guide profiles 416 colleges.
The Princeton Review chose the schools based on a survey of administrators at 695 colleges in 2019-20 about their institutions’ commitments to the environment and sustainability. The company’s editors analyzed more than 25 survey data points in the process of choosing schools for the guide.
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“We strongly recommend HSU to students who want to study and live at a green college,” said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review’s Editor-in-Chief. “Each and every one of the outstanding colleges in this edition of our guide offers both excellent academics and exemplary evidence of environmental commitment. “
From its curriculum and operations to investments, HSU has a longstanding commitment to sustainability. In 1987, HSU students created the Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility, which has become a tradition and has been adopted by many universities across the nation. Issues related to sustainability are incorporated into hundreds of classes, and many majors include a focus on the environment or social responsibility. HSU was the first public university in California to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles on campus and currently offers several alternative transportation options. The Humboldt State University Foundation also increased its investments in socially and environmentally responsible institutional mutual funds. HSU was recently recognized by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, earning a STARS Gold rating. For more go to HSU’s Office of Sustainability.
Franek noted that The Princeton Review has seen a high level of interest among college applicants and their parents in colleges with green practices, programs, and offerings. Sixty-six percent of the 12,845 respondents (college-bound teens and parents) to The Princeton Review’s 2020 College Hopes & Worries Survey said that having information about a college’s commitment to the environment would affect their (or their child’s) decision to apply to or attend a school. A report on the survey findings is downloadable at princetonreview.com/college-hopes-worries.
For information, check HSU’s profile at princetonreview.com.
How Schools Were Chosen for the Guide
The Princeton Review chose the 416 colleges based on its survey of administrators at 695 colleges in 2019–20 concerning their institutions’ sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs. Survey topics ranged from academic offerings and campus initiatives to career preparation for “green” jobs.
More than 25 survey data points were analyzed by The Princeton Review editors to tally Green Rating scores for the schools on a scale of 60 to 99. Colleges that earned a Green Rating of 80 or higher made it into the guide. Of the 416 schools in the 2021 edition, 393 are in the U.S., 22 are in Canada, and one is in Greece. The 416 schools are listed alphabetically in the guide and not ranked overall from 1 to 416. Colleges that earned a Green Rating of 99 made it onto The Princeton Review’s earlier (August 2020) reported Green Honor Roll, as well as this guide. The Green Rating scores appear in the profiles of the schools in the guide on The Princeton Review website and in profiles of the schools in the 2021 editions of The Princeton Review books, The Best 386 Colleges (published August 2020) and The Complete Book of Colleges (published July 2020).