San Gabriel Valley Schools Among Nation's Best Bang For Your Buck

LOS ANGELES, CA — Students and parents of kids at Los Angeles area universities are getting some of the best bang for their buck, according to Money magazine's annual list of the 50 Best Colleges in the U.S.

The list, released Monday, places UC Irvine and UCLA in the number two and three spots based on a formula that looks at the cost to attend the schools, the average student dent and the average income of new graduates. Money also based the rankings on additional factors, including median SAT and ACT scores, graduation rates, estimated tuition costs with and without monetary aid.

UCI and UCLA are far from the only universities in the area deemed a good value. Money ranked Caltech in Pasadena 12th, Cal State Long Beach 22; Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson 45; Cal Poly Pomona 47; Pomona College 71; Cal State Fullerton 84; Cal State Northridge 89; Claremont McKenna College 106; and USC 113.

Princeton University was ranked number one, followed by UC San Diego. Stanford University rounded out the top five.

The magazine put the cost to attend UCI in 2018-19 at $34,700 without aid and $14,800 with aid, and estimated the percentage of students who get grants at 96 percent. The average UCI student's debt was estimated at $17,000, while early career earnings are estimated at $54,900, according to the magazine's data. The median SAT/ACT scores of UCI students is 1200/27.

The cost to attend UCLA, where the SAT/ACT median score is 1320/31, is listed as $34,700 without aid and $15,300 with aid. The number of students getting grants was estimated at 96 percent; average student debt was put at $16,300; and early career earnings estimated at $57,500.

To be considered for the rankings, each university has to have at least 500 students, sufficient data for analysis, not be in financial distress and have a graduation rate equal to or higher than the median for the institution's category. In total, 727 schools met the requirements and were then weighted by education quality, affordability and outcomes.

City News Service and Patch staffer contributed to this report. Photo: Shutterstock