Survey has Fresno State as a ‘best value’ college. See how it ranks in California

Fresno State is among the top 10 “best value colleges” in California.

That’s according to the financial site SmartAsset, which recently released its eighth annual study of national universities. The study compared schools across five metrics, including scholarships opportunities and living costs, student retention rates and the starting salaries for students upon graduation.

More than 800 schools were given an index score and ranked. The No. 1 school (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, otherwise known as MIT) was given a base score of 100, with subsequent schools represented by how closely they compared.

Fresno State had an index value of just over 50%, putting it at No. 126 of schools across the county.

The university ranked 10th among schools statewide, just below UCLA.

Other California schools ranked well

Cal Tech ranked No. 1 for the state and No. 2 in the nation, with an index score of 87.27% It’s the fifth time the Pasadena school has topped rankings for the state, according to the study.

Harvey Mudd College ranked No. 3 in the nation and Stanford ranked fifth.

Others in the top 10 statewide include: UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Davis and UC Irvine.

Of those schools, Fresno State had the lowest tuition and student living costs, according to the study (at $6,587 and $14,831 respectively) but also the lowest starting salaries for graduates ($55,000, a full $10,000 below the next-closest school).

Last year, Fresno State was one of three area schools, along with Fresno Pacific University and UC Merced, to be ranked on U.S. News and World Report’s list of the nation’s best for social mobility.