55 CA Colleges Make Money’s Best Colleges By Value Ranking

CALIFORNIA — For students looking to earn an education in the wealthiest and most populous state in the nation, dozens of California schools landed on Money's new “Best Colleges in America, Ranked By Value” report this week.

At least 55 California schools landed on the list, but only two made it into the top 10.

Prospective Golden State college students and their parents looking for affordability and high quality have a new tool and resource to help narrow down their choices.

The entire list includes 671 schools that met Money’s criteria. The full methodology is found on Money’s website, but in short it includes financially sound schools with enrollments of 500 or more students and graduation rates at or above the mean for the category of institution.

The data was sorted in three categories: quality of education; affordability, including the availability of grants and other financial aid; and outcomes, a category that takes a comprehensive look at earnings after graduation, graduates’ economic mobility and a new measure on return on investment using data from the Bipartisan Policy Center.

For students who want to stay in the Golden State to go to college, the following colleges offer the most value, according to the ranking:

University of California, Irvine (Ranked No. 9)

• Overall score: 83.49
• Acceptance rate: 30 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $37,100
• Estimated price with average grant: $13,800
• Percent of students who get grants: 69 percent

University of California, Davis (Ranked No. 10)

• Overall score: 83.13
• Acceptance rate: 46 percent
• Estimated full price, 2022-23: $38,700
• Estimated price with average grant: $18,000
• Percent of students who get grants: 69 percent

University of California, San Diego also made the No. 12 spot with an 82.21 overall score, California State University Maritime Academy made No. 15 with an 81.79 overall score and California State University, Long Beach snagged the No. 18 spot with an overall score of 81.39.

Money also has a tool that students and parents can use to further narrow down their search and build a customized list that uses its high-value college rankings to create a grouping that best matches a student’s interests. The list can be re-ranked, based on the importance of financial aid and post-graduate earnings, Money said.

Nationally, the Top 10 schools based on value are:

1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
3. University of Virginia, Charlottesville
4. Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay
5. Virginia Military Institute, Lexington
6. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
7. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
8. University of Florida, Gainesville
9. University of California, Irvine
10. University of California, Davis

View the full list here.