Cal State LA ranks among the top value colleges in the nation, according to Money.com.
The publication recently released its list of The Best Colleges in America for 2025, and Cal State LA was one of only 40 institutions to receive a top-scale five-star rating from the respected source. Money evaluated 732 colleges from around the country.
In the story accompanying its value-focused Best Colleges list, Money singled out Cal State LA for ranking first in the nation on the think tank Third Way’s 2024 Economic Mobility Index, which measures the number of lower-income students a college serves and the length of time it takes for those students to earn more than they paid for their degrees. Money added the index as one of its measuring sticks for success in 2022, which instantly catapulted Cal State LA to being one of its top-ranked colleges nationally.
Cal State LA consistently ranks high on mobility indexes. Earlier this year, the inaugural rankings of the California Mobility Index named the university No. 1 in the state. Prior to that, Opportunity Insights based at Harvard University (formerly the Equality of Opportunity Project) placed Cal State LA first in the nation for upward mobility.
Money also placed Cal State LA on its list of best public colleges, best colleges in the West, and best colleges with high acceptance rates.
“As befitting a university in one of the U.S.’s most cosmopolitan areas, Cal State LA has a long history of celebrating its diverse student population,” Money said in its valuation of Cal State LA. “The university is home to the oldest Chicano studies program in the U.S. and has been designated an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. “
Money also highlighted the Early Entrance Program, which allows exceptional students as young as 11 years old to enroll full-time at the university; the “robust cultural offerings” available through the Luckman Fine Arts Complex; and Cal State LA’s 64% graduation rate.
Money’s annual list of Best Colleges is designed to help potential college students find schools that fit their budgets. It highlights the top value universities based on such factors as graduation rates, cost of attendance, financial aid, alumni salaries, and more.
Cal State LA had good company among the listings’ top tier. Nine of the 40 five-star universities were from the California State University system, and 15 of the CSU campuses landed in the top 10% of the rankings.
The CSU campuses “have gotten attention in recent years for being engines of social mobility: They excel at enrolling and graduating low-income and minority students,” according to the Money article.
Money also pointed out that the CSU currently enrolls about 460,000 undergraduates, and that one in every 20 Americans with a college degree is a CSU graduate.
“It’s pretty impactful, the scale at which we are graduating and serving students,” said CSU Chancellor Mildred García.
# # #
California State University, Los Angeles is the premier comprehensive public university in the heart of Los Angeles. Cal State LA is ranked number one in the United States for the upward mobility of its students. Cal State LA is dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good, offering nationally recognized programs in science, the arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education, and the humanities. Founded in 1947, the University serves more than 24,000 students and has more than 250,000 distinguished alumni.
