UPDATED | An original version of this story incorrectly stated at Cal State Long Beach was the only CSU to make the Kiplinger’s list, however that is incorrect. Both Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo also made the list. The story has been edited to reflect these changes. 

California State University Long Beach ranked 82nd on this year’s Top 100 Best Values in Public Colleges, a list released annually by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Though several Universty of California schools—including UCLA, UCSD and UCI—were ranked in the list’s top 20, CSULB and both Cal Poly schools were the only CSU campus that made the cut.

The Kiplinger publishing firm generates a multitude of data-driven value-based rankings throughout the year from its 10 Best Private College Educations for Under $20K to 10 Cheapest U.S. Cities to Live In. Its Best Values In Public Colleges release is one of its most anticipated with schools constantly moving up and down the list depending on shifting statistics for factors like admission rates, tuition costs and freshman retention rates. 

Despite rising education costs across California’s public colleges, academics accounted for a sizeable portion of Kiplinger’s data-driven rankings, keeping many California institutions on the list. CSULB’s competitively priced tuition for both in-and-out-of staters coupled with its well-recognized academic programs made it the only non-polytechnic Cal State campus in the top 100. Its low four-year graduation rate—at 12 percent, the lowest of all top 100 schools—kept it from climbing much higher.   

Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo came in at 40 on the list, the only CSU to rank better than CSULB. Cal Poly Pomona came in right below CSULB at 89. Schools at the top of the list include University of North Carolin Chapel Hill and University of Virginia, boasting what Kiplinger’s reported to be stellar academics, a reasonable sticker price and generous financial aid packages. 

Compare all of the public college rankings at Kiplingers.com