U.S. News ranks CSUB in 2022-23 Best Colleges report

CSUB ranked No. 29 in Top Public Schools, No. 18 in Social Mobility

By California State University, Bakersfield

September 12^th, 2022

California State University, Bakersfield has been ranked in several categories by the U.S. News and World Report as part of its 2022-23 Best Colleges report.

For the western region of the country, CSUB ranked No. 29 in the Top Public Schools category, No. 18 in Top Performers on Social Mobility and No. 60 among Regional Universities West. CSUB was also ranked No. 87 nationally in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs.

“Families in our community embrace the opportunities that come with being a Roadrunner, but CSUB’s high rankings for social mobility and overall excellence send a clear message that this region and university are on the rise,” said President Lynnette Zelezny. “At CSUB, we are honored to be the place where new beginnings are launched by thousands of students working toward a degree that can be applied to a good quality job in our region.”

Schools were ranked according to their performance across a set of factors, such as graduation rates, student-faculty ratio and financial resources available to students. Nearly 1,500 colleges and universities are ranked in the report each year.

The Top Public Schools category consists of public colleges and universities that operate under the supervision of state governments and are funded, in part, through tax dollars and subsidies from the state.

Top Performers on Social Mobility rankings are determined by how well schools graduated students who received federal Pell Grants. These grants are awarded to students with family incomes of up to $50,000, with most going to students with a total family income below $20,000. At CSUB, over 60% of students are eligible for a Pell Grant.

The Regional Universities West category ranks universities in the western part of the nation that offer a full range of undergraduate degree programs and some master’s but few doctoral programs.

CSUB has received several top rankings this year, including No. 13 in the Best Bang for the Buck: West list and No. 26 in the Master’s Universities list by Washington Monthly, No. 5 in economic mobility by national think tank Third Way and No. 20 in CollegeNet’s 2021 Social Mobility Index.