11:15am | U.S.News & World Report has ranked California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) the fourth best public regional university in the western United States in its 2012 edition of “America’s Best Colleges Guide.”
It is the fourth consecutive year CSULB has been ranked fourth best public university in the West, a region that includes 13 states from Texas to California to Washington and includes Alaska and Hawaii.
“In spite of these difficult fiscal times, Cal State Long Beach continues to deliver the quality education and service that captures the attention of U.S.News & World Report. Our attention to the economic concerns of our students and their parents is also reflected in the university’s rank as fifth in the west in terms of least debt load upon graduation, which makes us very proud,” said CSULB President F. King Alexander. “These rankings reflect the hard work and dedication to our students that are demonstrated by faculty and staff every day at Cal State Long Beach.”
In the “Least Debt” category, CSULB ranked fifth lowest among regional universities in the west with 38 percent of its graduates leaving the campus with an average debt of $10,787. The campus’ average debt load of $10,787 ranked 11th lowest in the nation among all regional universities, and its percentage of graduates with debt (38 percent) was fourth lowest among all regional universities nationally.
CSULB’s up-to-date U.S.News ranking comes on the heels of other recent rankings from other publications, including a “Best in the West” designation from The Princeton Review and a top 10 national ranking in conferring bachelor’s degrees to minority students by Diverse Issues in Higher Education.
The 2012 “Best Colleges” package provides a thorough examination of how more than 1,400 accredited four-year schools compare on a set of up to 16 widely accepted indicators of excellence. Among the many factors weighed in determining the rankings, the key measures of quality are peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.
U.S. News made some changes to the 2012 Best Colleges’ ranking methodology and presentation, including the updating of ranking categories, and for the first time, U.S. News has included in the rankings all for-profit colleges and universities that grant bachelor’s degrees and are regionally accredited. These include many schools that have large online bachelor’s degree programs.
The exclusive rankings are available today at www.usnews.com/colleges. The 350-page 2012 edition of the Best Colleges guidebook will be available on newsstands September 20.