Fresno State is ranked the No. 2 university among all public and private schools nationwide in Washington Monthly’s new ranking of Best Colleges for your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars.

The Washington D.C.-based independent media organization has published its list of top schools since 2005, ranking colleges and universities based on their contribution to the public good in three categories: social mobility, research and promoting public service.

Amid federal policy changes and economic instability in higher education, along with public concerns over the value of a degree, Washington Monthly revised its rankings this year to provide a more clear picture of how colleges perform. That means focusing on access, affordability, outcomes and community and national service and separating research into its own category. 

Fresno State ranks as No. 2 university nationally, and is joined in the top 30 by five Ivy League institutions, Stanford and MIT. Fresno State is the only Mountain West university ranked in the top 30, as well as the only top-30 university slated for the revamped Pac-12 Conference, which Fresno State will join in July 2026. 

Among California State University campuses, Fresno State appears in the top 5 ahead of California State University, Northridge; California State University, Los Angeles; and Princeton University. Berea College, a liberal arts school in Kentucky, ranks first.

This is Fresno State’s best ranking in Washington Monthly’s annual list since 2017 when the university was No. 17.

The university also ranked No. 8 in the Best Hispanic-Serving Colleges ranking, a new list in which Washington Monthly collaborated with Excelencia in Education to rank colleges and universities that are best serving Hispanic students. Fresno State earned the Seal of Excelencia recertification this past October for its work in improving outcomes for Hispanic students.

In the Best Bang for the Buck Rankings: West category, Fresno State improved to No. 8 from No. 13 in 2024 for how well it helps non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.

Here are some ways Fresno State showed its commitment to affordability, outcome and impact on the community: 

• For the 16th consecutive year and for the first time ever, the Fresno State community provided over 1.6 million hours of service to the community worth an estimated $66.5 million of economic impact. 
• Through the Bulldog Bound guaranteed admissions program, the university is ensuring that qualified high school students from participating school districts in the region have a clear, tangible path to a college degree. 
• Fresno State was designated an Opportunity College and University by the Carnegie Classifications for how higher education can foster opportunities for student success. The classification examines the extent to which an institution is enrolling students who reflect the communities it serves and whether its students go on to earn competitive wages compared to peers in their area. 

“California State University, Fresno, shows how a public institution can deliver extraordinary value — without prestige branding, sky-high tuition or exclusionary admission,” said the Washington Monthly report which highlighted the university’s work on upward mobility for students, its accessibility to students of median-income-and-below families and its commitment to civic engagement.  

“But what makes Fresno State — and the CSU system more broadly — remarkable is not research output or selectivity. It’s regional commitment. Fresno doesn’t view education as a ticket out. It sees it as a way to root students more deeply in the place they call home,” the report said.

Washington Monthly Top 30 National Universities:

1. Berea College, in Kentucky 
2. Fresno State
3. California State University, Northridge
4. California State University, Los Angeles
5. Princeton University
6. California State University, Sacramento
7. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
8. Florida International University
9. California State University, Long Beach
10. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
11. California State University, San Bernardino
12. California State University, Fullerton
13. Stanford University
14. California State University, Dominguez Hills
15. University of Pennsylvania
16. Duke University
17. University of Central Florida
18. Williams College, in Massachusetts
19. Haverford College, in Pennsylvania
20. Macalester College in Minnesota
21. Cornell University
22. Brigham Young University
23. California State University, Stanislaus
24. Washington and Lee University, in Virginia
25. New College of Florida
26. Pomona College
27. California State University, Chico
28. Harvard University
29. Brown University
30. Middlebury College, in Vermont