According to the 2020 Social Mobility Index, Fresno State is ranked in the top five for best university for social mobility. This has been the college’s fourth consecutive year it has been ranked in the top 5.
As the same as last year, Fresno State comes in at the no. 3 spot out of 1,449 universities. No. 1 and No. 2 spots goes to Baruch College in New York and California State University, Los Angeles.
In the last seven years, Fresno State has placed in the top 20, giving college students the accessibility of opportunities to succeed, moving from one socioeconomic class to another.
The top 20 spots in the index also show that the public schools in California, from the CSU and the University of California system account for 70 percent of the rankings.
“Fresno State has proven to be a key driver in social mobility, providing a high-quality education at an affordable price, which helps students to succeed and become part of the next generation of leaders,” said Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro. “This latest ranking is another way to show the power of education and the talent that exists in every household.”
The Social Mobility Index was developed by CollegeNET. To determine rankings, the index measures a college or university’s tuition cost, economic background, graduation rate, early career salary and the size of a school’s endowment.
The data is collected through third-party sources such as the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.
Other recent national recognitions for Fresno State, is placing No. 3 among public national university for graduation rates according to the U.S. News and World Report’s 2021 Best College rankings.
The college also recently came in No. 26 for Washington Monthly’s annual nationwide college ranks as well as No. 7 for most Transformative Colleges in Money Magazine’s Best Public Colleges rankings.