Cal State Long Beach was once again selected as a “Best Value College” on Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list, earning a spot on both the overall list, which combines private and public colleges and universities, and the list of public colleges, university officials announced today.
“Securing a spot on the Kiplinger list is great recognition of our incredible faculty and staff’s hard work, long hours and campus-wide commitment to improving student achievement,” said President Jane Close Conoley in a statement.
Kiplinger reviewed competitiveness (admission rates and percentage of admitted students who enroll), graduation rates, academic support, cost and financial aid, student indebtedness and future salaries, as factors when compiling the list.
CSULB ranked 52 in the list of Best Values in Public Colleges and ranked 156 among all colleges. A total of 200 colleges were ranked.
University officials stated they are expanding efforts to improve four-year graduation rates amid steadily improving retention rates and record-high six-year graduation rates. The university is also increasing practices such as undergraduate research and service learning, which officials said have been proven to enhance student achievement. In addition, tuition and fees have remained considerably lower than those of other public four-year universities as does student loan debt and the percentage of students who take on loans. The mid-career median salaries of CSUlB graduates are nearly 20 percent higher than the national average of graduates from public universities.