For those interested in studying in Nebraska, we have a very useful list. We selected the best Nebraska institutions for prospective students. Please know that rankings are based on academic research, alumni reviews, graduation rates, as well as assessment from peer colleges. On the page, you will find major admissions stats such as acceptance rate, tuition fees, average SAT scores for each ranked college or university.
| Rankings | Schools |
| 1 | University of Nebraska – Lincoln (Lincoln, NE) Tuition: in-state: $8,068, out-of-state: $20,968 Total enrollment: 24,593 Fall 2011 acceptance rate: 59.3% Average freshman retention rate: 84% 6-year graduation rate: 67% Classes with under 20 students: 39.2% SAT/ACT 25th-75th percentile: 22-28 |
| 2 | University of Nebraska – Omaha (Omaha, NE) Tuition: in-state: $6,510, out-of-state: $16,520 Total enrollment: 14,712 Fall 2011 acceptance rate: 75.7% Average freshman retention rate: 72% 6-year graduation rate: 43% Classes with under 20 students: 31.3% SAT/ACT 25th-75th percentile: 20-25 |
Modern History of Nebraska
In 1819-20, the expedition of Stephen Long, who called this area the “Great Desert”, passed through the plains of Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma . It was believed that these lands were unsuitable for settlement and could only serve as a buffer zone between the United States and the Spaniards, Russians and British who were developing the western coast of North America.
In the early 40s of the 19th century, thousands of migrants rushed along the Oregon Trail through Nebraska to the fertile valleys of Washington and Oregon located in the northwestern United States. They were soon joined by Mormons on their way to Utah and miners attracted by the California gold rush. Landmarks on their way through the vast plains of Nebraska were the famous rock formations of Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff (which have the status of a US National Historic Landmark), visible for tens of miles.
After the formation of the state of Missouri in 1821 (and the abolition of the Missouri Territory), Nebraska did not have any official status until the passage of the “Kansas-Nebraska Act” in 1854 by the US Congress. The territory of Nebraska created by this law partially included, in addition to Nebraska itself, the lands of the modern states of Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Omaha became the capital of the new territory. The main occupations of the few residents of Nebraska in those years were agriculture and serving immigrants traveling to the West of the United States.
According to the “Kansas-Nebraska Act”, the question of the legality of slavery was to be decided by a vote of the residents of the new territories. Slavery was banned in Nebraska in 1861, and during the Civil War, the residents of the territory supported the northerners. Nebraska itself did not see any combat during the war years, but several volunteer units saw action in the east, particularly in Tennessee, Missouri, and Arkansas.
As early as 1819, the first steamboat sailed the Missouri River, and in the 1960s, the Union Pacific built a railroad from Omaha west through Nebraska, which became part of the first US transcontinental railroad.
In 1862, the US Congress passed the “Land Allotment Act” (“Homestead Act”), according to which any adult citizen of the United States of America who “has not taken up arms against the government of the United States ” (that is, who has not fought on the side of the Confederacy), after paying a symbolic a $10 cash contribution could receive a 65-hectare tract of vacant land west of the Mississippi. This law, as well as the gradual displacement of Indians from Nebraska, led to a sharp increase in the number of immigrants. In ten years (from 1860 to 1870) , Nebraska’s population more than quadrupled to over 125,000. Population growth also increased the desire for statehood, on March 1, 1867, Nebraska became the thirty-seventh US state. The capital of the new state was the city of Lancaster, already in July 1867 renamed Lincoln in honor of the assassinated US President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.