UC Davis 4th On Money Magazine List

Press release from the University of California, Davis:

August 25, 2020

The University of California, Davis, comes in at No. 4 among public universities in Money Magazine’s newest edition of U.S. universities ranked by value, equaling last year’s position, while also staying in the top 10 among all universities public and private.

The magazine’s seventh annual “Best Colleges for Your Money,” released today (Aug. 25), assessed more than 700 four-year colleges. The rankings are based about two dozen factors in three categories: quality (30 percent), affordability (40 percent) and outcomes (30 percent), each of which considers income levels or socioeconomics.

“Our No. 4 ranking shows our sustained excellence,” Chancellor Gary S. May said. “It also speaks to all-important outcomes, that our students are thriving in the workforce.”

The “outcomes” category is primarily based on alumni salary data from PayScale.com and the federal College Scorecard.

Money Magazine’s “quality” assessment takes into account a UC Davis strength: the number of Pell Grant recipients who graduate (as a way to analyze how well schools support their low-income students).

“Affordability,” given more emphasis this year, combines both short-term affordability (such as net price after aid, time to degree and amount borrowed) and long-term affordability (including student loan default and repayment rates).

UC Davis is one of five UCs in the top-10 public universities, with UC San Diego, third; UC Davis, fourth; UC Irvine, sixth; UC Berkeley, ninth; and UCLA, 10th.

More information on this year’s rankings can be found online.

This press release was produced by the University of California, Davis. The views expressed here are the author’s own.