UCLA is No. 1 in Forbes’ 2018 ranking of the 300 best value colleges and universities in the United States.
The University of California system excelled in the rankings, which were announced today, placing six campuses in the top 20: UC Berkeley (No. 2), UC Irvine (No. 4), UC San Diego (No. 9), UC Santa Barbara (No. 11) and UC Davis (No. 13).
Forbes evaluated colleges and universities based on alumni earnings (20 percent of the total ranking), net price (20 percent), net student debt (20 percent), school quality (20 percent), timely graduation (10 percent) and the number of Pell Grant recipients (10 percent). Thirty-five percent of UCLA students receive Pell Grants.
Forbes revised its methodology for 2018 to put more emphasis on the survey’s three financial factors — earnings, price and debt — and the publication switched to net price (which takes into account the impact of students’ financial aid and the costs of room and board) instead of list price.
UCLA consistently performs well in multiple rankings that use a wide range of criteria. Last fall, UCLA was named the No. 1 public institution in the nation in three separate assessments: U.S News and World Report Best Colleges rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education Top Colleges rankings.