University of California campuses rise to the top in Money’s 2024 Best Colleges

All nine University of California undergraduate campuses earned either 4.5 or 5 stars in Money's 2024 list of Best Colleges, placing them among the top tier of the nation's universities for educational quality, affordability and student outcomes.

The magazine evaluated 745 U.S. colleges out of 2,400. Of that short list, it awarded its top 5-star ranking to just 54 schools, including six UC campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside and UC San Diego. UC's three other undergraduate campuses - UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara - were all recognized with 4.5 stars.

"Now in its 10th edition, our list highlights schools where students are more likely to graduate with manageable debt and land good-paying jobs," Money editors said in a release.

Money moved to a star system over a numerical ranking last year - with universities earning between 1 and 5 stars - after editors decided it would be a better metric for families navigating complicated college choices.

"In a numbered ranking, very small differences in colleges' scores result in different ranks, exaggerating the difference in performance. As experts have long advised, it's more important to look broadly at where a college lands on a list and not its precise rank," Money editors wrote in a news release.

The magazine weighed university performance on 25 factors to determine star scores: Quality of education accounted for 30 percent of the score, including overall graduation rates for first-year students, transfers and Pell Grant recipients. Affordability accounted for 40 percent, and incorporated data on net cost of a degree and estimated average debt at graduation. Student outcomes accounted for the remaining 30 percent and reflected data on economic mobility and alumni salaries 10 years after graduation.

To achieve a 5-star rating, a college or university needed to score "exceptionally high on most of our metrics," Money editors wrote.

UC Riverside was among the universities to rise from 4.5 stars in 2023 to 5 stars this year, joining perennial rankings leaders like Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Yale.

"To be ranked among the top universities on Money magazine's list is a real badge of honor for our university, and like other acknowledgments, reflects our emphasis on research excellence and student success," said Kim Wilcox, UC Riverside's chancellor.

UC Riverside was recently named among the top 1.3 percent of universities in the 2024 Center for World University Rankings. In fall 2023, U.S. News ranked the university No. 2 in the nation for social mobility, the leading measure of a university's success in elevating graduates' standard of living.

UC Riverside's J.D. Warren contributed to this report. Read UC Riverside's story here.

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