UCLA ranked 31st out of the nation’s colleges when graded for its affordability, the seventh-lowest ranking out of the UC campuses.
Other selective universities that typically top traditional college rankings also didn’t fare as well. Harvard University placed at 38, Stanford University at 57 and Princeton University at 147. UC Berkeley placed the lowest out of UC campuses included in the ranking of 2,500 colleges at 61.
By comparison, UC Riverside ranked on top in Time Magazine’s college rankings released last month, which are meant to model a new college ranking system President Barack Obama proposed last year. Obama proposed a system based on three main factors: graduation rates, affordability and the number of Pell Grant recipients enrolled.
Christopher Carter, director of student financial support for the UC, said UCLA received a lower ranking than other campuses primarily because it enrolls a smaller percentage of Pell Grant recipients, as does UC Berkeley. Last academic year, about 36 percent of UCLA undergraduate students received Pell Grants, according to a UC report. At UC Riverside, about 57 percent of undergraduates received Pell Grants.
Carter said this is probably because the two have higher acceptance rates than the other campuses.
“UCLA and Berkeley are indeed the most competitive for admissions purposes (and) the most competitive campuses in the system. It’s an unfortunate truth but there is some link,” Carter said. “When you start having a particularly competitive campus then it’s going to be weighted toward those students who are typically high performers.”
Admissions data released last month also showed UCLA’s higher acceptance rate makes it slower than other UC campuses in enrolling greater numbers of Latino students.
But Carter added that the UC campuses on average performed better than comparable universities in Time’s rankings. Three UC campuses placed in the top five schools listed in the rankings.
“While UCLA and Berkeley are lower than the other UC campuses, relative to the nation as a whole … they’re high,” he said.
When Obama first proposed the new rating system in August, then-UC President Mark Yudof praised the president’s actions, saying they promoted accountability and affordability.
But his successor, Janet Napolitano, as well as other college leaders, have expressed skepticism about how such a system might work, especially since Obama expects to tie federal funding to his new ranking system, said Brooke Converse, UC spokeswoman. She said the UC has concerns that the University would be expected to raise its graduation rates and improve other statistics, which are on average already higher than other comparable universities.
Under the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, UC students from families that earn less than $80,000 have their tuition and fees covered entirely by grants and scholarships. But past that income level, financial aid varies campus to campus.
Yessenia Macias, a third-year Chicana/o studies and transfer student, said she would have gotten more financial aid at other UC campuses than UCLA.
“(At) UC San Diego … basically my financial aid covered all tuition and fees,” she said. “In UCLA, I ended up asking for loans because financial aid didn’t cover everything.”
Macias said she takes out $5,000 in loans per year, is a self-supporting student and is not considered to be low-income. She said she doesn’t know how she will pay back the loan.
But she said she still chose UCLA for its academic program.
“When I learned about the (Chicana/o Studies) program … I was inspired. I didn’t really care about the money,” she said.