WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — (October 28, 2016) — Monmouth University has once again been singled out as one of the country’s most environmentally responsible universities. The Princeton Review’s Guide to 361 Green Colleges: 2016 edition listed the University for its exceptional commitments to sustainability, based on academics and career preparation, “green” policies, initiatives and activities.
This is the third year that the Princeton Review has included Monmouth in the guide, which is not published on paper, but is instead made available in a more sustainable free download at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide.
According to information released by the publishers, the colleges and universities chosen were based on “Green Rating” scores from 60 to 99 that were tallied in summer 2016 for more than 600 institutions, using data from the Review’s 2015-16 survey of administrators. The survey asked participants to report on their own sustainability-related policies, practices and programs. More than 25 data points were weighted in the assessment. Institutions with Green Rating scores of 80 or higher were included in this year’s guide.
Monmouth University was named a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2016 Green Power Club. It has also been named the New Jersey Clean Energy School of the Year, received the New Jersey Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award for Environmental Leadership and was the first New Jersey private university to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the EPA, committing to be an environmental steward and reduce its carbon footprint. Additionally, the University has installed solar panels on the majority of its academic buildings to cultivate renewable energy.
Students planning on attending college are factoring sustainability into their choice, according to the Princeton Review, noting that of the nearly 10,000 participants in their “2016 College Hopes & Worries Survey,” 61 percent said that having information about environmental commitment would influence their decision to apply or attend a college or university.