Washington Monthly: CSULB among the nation’s top 10 values in higher ed

Cal State Long Beach is among the top 10 in Washington Monthly’s nationwide rankings of universities providing an affordable and accessible higher education.  

The Beach claimed the No. 10 spot in the latest edition of the "Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars” rankings, completed after an evaluation of more than 1,500 U.S. colleges and universities. Washington Monthly graded institutions along four metrics: Access, affordability, outcomes, and community and national service.

Washington Monthly describes its approach as a means of rating colleges’ contributions to the public good. Accordingly, the ratings look at factors including enrollments of Pell Grant recipients, attendance costs, graduation rates, alumni earnings and how many students opt for service opportunities with AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps or ROTC.

CSULB also claimed Washington Monthly’s No. 4 ranking among colleges in the western United States.

Washington Monthly’s report follows CSULB earning 5 out 5 stars in Money’s “Best Colleges in America” rankings as well as placing in the top 50 in the Wall Street Journal and College Pulse’s 2026 list.

In 2025, U.S. News & World Report rated CSULB as the nation’s No. 3 university in its 2025 “Top Performers on Social Mobility” list.

The Beach is also among a select few institutions to have earned both an Opportunity Colleges and Universities (OCU) designation and a Research 2 (R2) classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education.

OCU status affirms CSULB’s combination of high accessibility and degrees leading to impactful economic outcomes. The R2 classification signifies a high-level of research spending and doctoral conferrals.