UC Riverside Makes Top 30 in Time’s Money Magazine

UCR is ranked 29 in Money’s Best Colleges 2017-18 issue

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UCR has been ranked 29 in Money Magazine’s “Best Colleges for Your Money 2017.”

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) – The University of California, Riverside has been ranked No. 29 in Time Inc.’s Money Magazine’s “Best Colleges for Your Money 2017,” issue. The rankings compared a total of 711 schools that met Money’s requirements.

“Being ranked among the nation’s top universities is always an honor, but this achievement is particularly meaningful because it speaks to one of our core values—making a world class education accessible and affordable,” said UCR Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox. “A lot of things make UCR great, but our record in helping students from all backgrounds succeed, both while they’re here and after they graduate, is perhaps our most enduring accomplishment.”

Among the factors the magazine weighed to compile its list are each school’s estimated cost with or without financial aid, the percentage of students who receive aid grants, and average early-career earnings of graduates.

Money’s methodology behind its 2017 rankings includes the following:

Have at least 500 students.

Have sufficient, reliable data to be analyzed.

Not be in financial distress.

Have a graduation rate that was at or above the median for its institutional category (public or private), or have a high percentage of low-income students scoring well on tests.

A total of 711 universities met those requirements – Money ranked them on other factors that fit into these three categories, that surveys show are most important to students and parents. That’s quality of education, affordability, and outcomes.

“As with all our achievements as a campus, this is a team effort. We don’t get these kinds of results without faculty, staff, and students from across UCR working towards our shared vision of excellence,” Wilcox said.

The accolade is the latest in a series of high rankings for UCR. In 2014, Time magazine ranked UCR No. 1, based on the ratings system that was being proposed by former President Barack Obama and his administration. The magazine used three factors, and data from the Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System:

Six-year graduation rate;

Percentage of full-time, first-time undergraduates receiving Pell grants; and

Net cost for students receiving aid, and whose families’ annual incomes were below $110,000.

When taking the three factors, and weighing them equally, in 2014 UC Riverside sat on top of that rating. From 2013-2015, UCR was ranked No.2 by Washington Monthly magazine. UCR was recognized on measures of research, service, and social mobility

The top three institutions on Money’s 2017 best colleges list are Princeton University, followed by City University of New York Bernard M. Baruch College, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Other UCs that made the cut include UC Berkeley (no. 4), UCLA (no. 5), and UC Davis (no. 9).

Archived under: Politics/Society, best colleges, chancellor, diversity, financial aid, Kim A. Wilcox, low income students, Money Magazine, press release, rankings, Washington Monthly

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