Stan State Ranks No. 19 in the Nation on MONEY Magazine’s Best Colleges List

The quality and value of a Stanislaus State education has again been recognized nationally by MONEY Magazine, which ranked the University No. 19 in the nation on its 2022 list of “Best Colleges in America, Ranked by Value” and No. 10 on its regional “Best Colleges in the West” list.  

In an announcement released Monday, May 16, the magazine gave Stan State an overall score of 81.37, conferring points for affordability, a high acceptance rate, small class sizes, a favorable faculty-to-student ratio and a graduation rate of 67%, which is 14% higher than the expected rate for colleges with similar student body demographics. 

The University also received points for its focus on teaching underrepresented populations and empowering the upward mobility of its students, who usually earn starting salaries that average nearly $54,000 a year after graduation. 

Stan State is joined in the top 20 on the national list by two other California State University campuses: Cal State Long Beach and Cal Maritime in Vallejo. 

According to the MONEY website, the national list was compiled by ranking 671 schools on criteria within three categories: quality of education (30% of weighting), affordability (40%) and outcomes, including employment and earnings after graduation (30%). 

This year, MONEY separated the national rankings into two lists: a main list and one for schools the magazine called “the country’s most selective” because they only admit a relatively small number of applicants. The separation allows the main list to focus on the schools most students can attend, according to the magazine. 

Stan State has consistently received high rankings from MONEY for the past several years with inclusion in the magazine’s top 10 “Most Transformative Colleges” list and within the top 50 in the “Best Colleges for the Money” category.  

The MONEY rankings join a growing list of accolades for the University. Last fall, Stan State placed No. 7 on the Washington Monthly’s “Best Bang for the Buck” in the West  list and made its 16th consecutive appearance on The Princeton Review’s national Best 387 Colleges list.  

U.S. News & World Report ranked Stan State among the Top 30 Universities in the West in four categories, including social mobility and public schools. The Hispanic Outlook on Education magazine ranked Stan State among the nation’s Top 100 Colleges and Universities for Hispanics.