Sonoma State University has made Money magazine’s fourth annual Best Colleges for Your Money list, which ranks schools based on educational quality, affordability and graduate earnings.
The rankings are the first to combine the most accurate pricing estimates available with students’ likely earnings after graduation and a unique analysis of how much “value” a college adds. The list, released July 10, includes a total of 19 California State University campuses.
The magazine’s methodology includes value-added calculations comparing expected and actual outcomes for graduation rates, student loan default rates, and earnings data. Money Magazine estimates a college’s “value add” by calculating its performance on important measures such as graduation rates, student loan default rates, and post-graduation earnings, after adjusting for the types of students it admits.
CSU campuses are frequently recognized as engines of social mobility due to their success in educating diverse students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college. SSU made both of Washington Monthly’s and CollegeNet’s list of recently highlighted schools for doing the best job of helping students from low-income families attain degrees at affordable prices.
Sonoma State has previously been ranked in the Princeton Review's Top 381 Colleges in the nation for the past two years including “Best Western Colleges," and received a spot in May on Forbes “America’s Best Value Colleges” and “Top Colleges” list.