Cleveland State University has been featured in The Princeton Review's Guide to Green Colleges for the second consecutive year. Released on October 22, the guide can be accessed at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide. The Princeton Review chose the 413 schools it profiles in the guide based on a survey conducted in 2018–19 of administrators at hundreds of four-year colleges about their institutions’ commitments to the environment and sustainability.

“Every day I hear from students, faculty, and staff about the importance of sustainability in our day-to-day operations,” says Jennifer McMillin, director of sustainability at CSU. “Our campus community is paying attention to our efforts in energy conservation and waste reduction. It’s important that we walk the talk and it’s an honor to be recognized for our efforts again this year.”

"We salute—and strongly recommend—Cleveland State University to the many environmentally-minded students who want to study and live at a green college," said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's Editor-in-Chief.

Franek noted that college applicants and their parents are increasingly concerned about the environment and sustainability issues. Among the 11,900 teens and parents The Princeton Review surveyed earlier this year for its 2019 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 64% said that having information about a college's commitment to the environment would influence their decision to apply to or attend the school." The full survey report is downloadable at www.princetonreview.com/college-hopes-worries.

The profiles in The Princeton Review's Guide to Green Colleges provide information about admission requirements, cost and financial aid, and student body demographics. They also include "Green Facts" about the schools, with details on such matters as the availability of transportation alternatives at the schools and the percentage of the school food budgets spent on local/organic food.  

In the "Campus Life" section of its profile on CSU, The Princeton Review cites a publicly available greenhouse gas emissions inventory, a carpool matching program, and free or reduced price transit passes as factors contributing to the overall rating. CSU received 87 out of 99 possible points.

The Princeton Review first published its annual guide to green colleges in 2010. The company is also known for its dozens of categories of college rankings in its annual books, The Best 385 Colleges and Best Value Colleges.

The Princeton Review chose the schools based on Green Rating scores the company tallied (on a scale of 60 to 99) for 689 colleges in summer 2019 using data from its 2018–19 survey of administrators at the colleges. The survey asked administrators to report on their schools’ sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs. More than 25 data points were analyzed for the Green Rating score. Colleges with Green Rating scores of 80 or higher made it into this guide. The Green Rating scores appear in the profiles of the schools on www.princetonreview.com and in the 2020 editions of The Princeton Review books, The Complete Book of Colleges and The Best 385 Colleges (published in summer 2019). More information about The Princeton Review's Green Rating methodology and its Green Honor Roll (a list of schools that received the highest possible rating score, 99) is at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide.

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