The 25 Most Desirable Rural Schools

Landing at No. 21 on Newsweek’s list of best rural colleges, the State University of New York at Geneseo is located in Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region, famous for its mountains and wineries. Of course, students do more than hike and sip wine. “The campus is small and walking is the best way to get around,” writes one student on CollegeProwler.com. “If you want to go to Wal-Mart or any other off-campus location, the bus is a simple way to get there.”
 
The public liberal arts college offers its students 42 areas of study and 20 NCAA Division III teams. SUNY Geneseo enrolls just under 5,000 undergraduates each year, 62 percent of who live on campus. At 57 percent, the university consists of mostly women. SUNY Geneseo’s student-to-faculty ratio is 19 to 1, with an average class size of 26. Tuition, room and board, and fees for the 2009–2010 school year totaled $15,845.