Cal Poly Pomona ranked No. 3 in the nation among the universities that help low income students find financial success after graduation, according to the “2018 Social Mobility Index.” The university is one of only five that has ranked in the top 20 for five consecutive years.
The “2018 Social Mobility Index” (SMI), developed by CollegeNET, measures the extent to which a college or university educates more economically disadvantaged students at lower tuition, so they can graduate and obtain good paying jobs.
The index uses five criteria: tuition cost, the percentage of students from low-income households, graduation rates, salaries of graduates and the size of a school’s endowment. Data was collected through third-party sources including Payscale, Inc. and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).
“Higher Education is the most important asset in the Learning Age,” says Jim Wolfston, CEO of CollegeNET. “If we can distribute this vital asset across the economic spectrum, we can optimize our nation’s human capital development, prepare the next generation for citizenship and ensure social and economic opportunity.”
Joining Cal Poly Pomona in the top ten were the Cal State University campuses in Chico (No. 2), Fresno (No.4), San Jose (No. 5), Long Beach (No. 6) and East Bay (No. 9).
Cal Poly Pomona has also recently been ranked at No. 4 among public universities in the West by U.S. News & World Report and listed in Money magazine’s 2018 “The 50 Best Colleges in the U.S.” for quality and affordability and Payscale’s 2018 “Best Value College” for net return on investment.