DURHAM, N.H. (AP) - Three northern New England colleges are among 26 receiving the highest score from a nonprofit group that rated schools on their sustainability efforts.

The University of New Hampshire, Middlebury College in Vermont and the College of the Atlantic in Maine all received A- scores on the Sustainable Endowments Institute's annual report card.

The group evaluated the colleges and universities with the 300 largest endowments in the United States and Canada, as well as 32 additional schools that applied for inclusion. It looked at factors such as whether schools have full-time staff dedicated to sustainability, whether they grow their own food and compost food waste and whether their buildings are energy efficient.