Cal State Fullerton in 2024 has earned national recognition from the national policy institute Third Way and technology company CollegeNET for being affordable and accessible to students from diverse economic backgrounds.
Third Way ranks CSUF as a Tier 1 school in its 2024 Economic Mobility Index, placing the university at No. 23 out of more than 1,350 institutions listed.
Third Way describes Tier 1 schools as “doing an exceptional job of providing economic benefits to students who need them the most,” and lists CSUF among 270 Tier 1 universities that have consistently scored high in such areas as graduation rates, the net price of a degree and median earnings of alumni.
Third Way’s index evaluates factors like the net price of a degree for low-income students, alumni salaries and an institution’s proportion of Pell Grant recipients.
In addition, CollegeNET’s 2024 Social Mobility Index ranks CSUF at No. 27 out of 1,205 U.S. institutions for providing economic mobility to students. With its index, CollegeNET recognizes universities for providing an affordable education and effectively preparing students for the workforce.
CollegeNET’s index aims to offer an alternative to traditional rankings. For example, CollegeNET does not consider peer assessments to avoid biases and stereotypes. Its index measures such factors as a student body’s economic background, messaging about broader economic inclusion and civic contribution, tuition, graduation rates, alumni median salary, and endowment size.
Out of CSUF’s 36,508 undergraduate students in fall 2023, 17,975 — or 49.2% — were Pell Grant recipients.