Hope College is one of the 375 most environmentally responsible colleges according to The Princeton Review. The education services company known for its test prep and tutoring services, books, and college rankings features Hope in the 2017 edition of its free book, “The Princeton Review Guide to 375 Green Colleges.”
The ranking can be accessed at princetonreview.com/green-guide (registration on website required).
The Princeton Review chose the schools for the seventh annual edition of its “green guide” based on data from the company’s 2016-17 survey of hundreds of four-year colleges concerning the schools’ commitments to the environment and sustainability. (Notes follow on how schools were chosen.)
“We strongly recommend Hope and the other fine colleges in this guide to the many environmentally-minded students who seek to study and live at green colleges,” said The Princeton Review’s Robert Franek, senior vice president-publisher.
Franek noted the growing interest the company has seen among college-bound students in green colleges. “Among more than 10,000 teens and parents who participated in our 2017 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 64 percent told us that having information about a school’s commitment to the environment would influence their decision to apply to or attend the college.” (A complete report on that survey is at princetonreview.com/college-hopes-worries.)
The profiles in “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 375 Green Colleges” provide information about each school’s admission requirements, cost and financial aid and student body stats. They also include “green facts” about the schools with details on the availability of transportation alternatives at the schools and the percentage of the school food budgets spent on local/organic food.
From recycling to energy conservation efforts on campus made by students, faculty and staff alike, Hope places a high value on modeling sustainability and keeping the West Michigan community beautiful. In May, Hope received a STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating) Silver rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, up from the Bronze rating that the college had held since 2012.
The college’s Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts, which opened in August 2015, earned a Silver certification in February from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Program. Hope will also be seeking certification for the Jim and Martie Bultman Student Center, which opened this fall.
Other campus sustainability practices have ranged from green purchasing policies, increased recycling and trayless dining to reduce food waste; to replacing residence halls’ windows with better-insulated models and adding insulation to the cottages’ attics; to the creation of academic minors in both environmental science and environmental studies; and partnering with the City of Holland and Holland Board of Public Works in the Holland-Hope College Sustainability Institute, which was established in 2014 and is based at Hope. The college's sustainability website may be visited at hope.edu/sustainability.
The Princeton Review first published the guide in 2010. It remains the only free, annually updated downloadable guide to green colleges. The company is also known for its dozens of categories of college rankings in its annual books, “The Best 382 Colleges and Colleges That Pay You Back.”