CPP #21 on 'Best Colleges in U.S.' Ranking By Wall Street Journal
Cal Poly Pomona is No. 21 on the Wall Street Journal’s “2025 Best Colleges in the U.S.” and No. 10 on its “2025 WSJ/College Pulse Social Mobility” ranking, which measures how much a university adds to their students’ ability to climb the economic ladder of success following graduation.
For the Best Colleges ranking, the news outlet evaluated 500 universities and estimated the value added by each school to their students’ success (measured by salary), years to pay off the net price of an undergraduate degree and combined that with the school’s impact on graduation rates for 70 percent of the score. Student surveys about their campus learning environment accounted for 20 percent. The remaining 10 percent was based on “metrics about racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and disability status of students and faculty with the experiences of students on campus” via the survey.
The social mobility list “rewards universities that take in the highest proportion of students coming from lower-income families, while maintaining high graduation rates and having a positive impact on graduate salaries and minimizing the costs of attending the college,” noted the publication.
During the 2023-24 academic year, 70 percent of CPP undergraduate students were awarded financial aid totaling nearly $250 million through a variety of financial aid programs, including grants, loans, scholarships, veterans’ aid, athletic aid and work study.
In general, during the 2023-24 academic year, an undergraduate dependent student whose family made less than $70,000 (with no assets) received sufficient grants to cover their tuition.