For the 15th consecutive year, Cal State Fullerton is ranked among the nation’s “Top Public Regional Universities” in the West, announced today by U.S. News & World Report.
CSUF is now No. 7 — up from No. 9 in last year’s ranking.
In addition, the University has the second-lowest percentage of grads in the “Least Debt” category in the West among regional universities. Only the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology had a smaller percentage that graduated with debt in the Class of 2014.
In the magazine’s broad “Best Regional Universities” in the West category, incorporating both public and private institutions that award mostly bachelor’s and master’s degrees, CSUF shares the No. 37 slot (up from 40) with Fresno Pacific in the top tier among 87 institutions. Leading this list is Trinity University in Texas, followed by Santa Clara at No. 2, and Loyola Marymount at No. 3 — a match for last year’s top three.
For the “Best Regional Universities” annual rankings, 618 institutions in four geographic regions throughout the nation were assessed by region.
The rankings of regional universities are based on a variety of factors. Undergraduate academic reputation accounts for 22.5 percent of the overall score. Retention also accounts for 22.5 percent. Other assessment factors are: faculty resources (20 percent), student selectivity (12.5 percent), financial resources (10 percent), graduation rate performance (7.5 percent) and alumni giving (5 percent).
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo again tops the list of public regional universities in the West. Western Washington University and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology are No. 2 and 3, respectively, as they were last year.
Overall, U.S. News ranked 1,376 institutions for its “2016 Best Colleges” rankings based on data from 2012-15.
Princeton, Harvard and Yale are again the top three institutions, respectively, in the magazine’s “National University Rankings,” which include those universities awarding doctorates, as well as undergraduate and master’s degrees.
U.S. News & World Report‘s latest rankings are available online.