Washington Monthly magazine released its annual College Guide and Rankings, and placed Cal State San Bernardino in the top ten rankings for the categories Best Bang for the Buck and for national universities with the best master’s programs.

Since 2005, Washington Monthly has been evaluating and ranking schools based on what they are doing for the country. The magazine rated “schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: Social Mobility (recruiting low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarships and Ph.D.s) and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country).”

In the Best Bang for the Buck in the West category, California State University campuses occupy 11 of the top 29 positions, with Cal State San Bernardino ranked at No. 6, up five spots since last year’s ranking of No. 11. This category, which is broken down into regions, is an “exclusive list of schools that help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.”

The Best Bang for the Buck survey looked at various areas, such as the student loan default rate, the graduation rate, students receiving Pell Grants, the net price for all students attending the university, the net family income and the percentage of first-generation students.

“We are incredibly proud to be ranked in the ‘Best Bang for the Buck’ category once again,” said CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales. “Being ranked in the top ten this year shows CSUSB’s commitment to providing high quality education at a reasonable cost, especially to those who are first-generation college students. In fact, 80 percent of our students are first-generation college graduates.”

For more information on Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university’s Office of Strategic Communication at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu