CSULB ranks No. 8 among national universities for promoting social mobility

Cal State Long Beach has ranked No. 8 among national universities for “Top Performers on Social Mobility,” according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2027 Best Colleges rankings, released today.

The social mobility rankings, which are part of U.S. News’ varied outcome measures, assess graduation rates and the performance of Pell Grant-awarded students. The publication examined graduation rates of Pell Grant students over a four-year moving average — from the entering classes of fall 2016 through fall 2019. The higher a university’s Pell graduation rate relative to its non-Pell graduation rate, the better the social mobility scores.

Of the more than 36,700 enrolled undergraduate Beach students in fall 2025, 59% were Pell eligible and about 50% received Pell Grants, according to campus data and the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

In other rankings published today by U.S. News, Cal State Long Beach ranked highly in several non-doctorate engineering programs, including No. 5 in aerospace aeronautical and astronautical engineering, No. 9 in computer engineering and No. 10 in electrical and electronic engineering.

The rankings continue to underscore CSULB’s stature as a top educational institution that promotes social mobility and academic achievement.

Last month, Cal State Long Beach ranked No. 10 in Washington Monthly’s “Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars” list. The Beach also ranked No. 4 in Washington Monthly’s “Best Bang for the Buck: West” list for the second year in a row.

The Wall Street Journal and College Pulse have ranked CSULB in the top 50 in their annual “Best Colleges in America” list, and Money has also recognized Cal State Long Beach as one of the “Best Colleges in America,” giving The Beach 5 out of 5 stars for three years in a row, including this year.