Fresno State is one of the most affordable schools in the US. Here’s why
Fresno State is one of the most accessible schools in the country, according to Washington Monthly magazine.
The magazine ranked the state university as No. 2 out of more than 1,400 institutions across the nation on its list of the Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars. The publication analyzed the schools based on how much they help low income students pursue degrees — and graduate without massive amounts of debt.
It’s Fresno State’s best ranking in the publication’s annual list since 2017, when the university was No. 17, the school said in a news release.
“Located in Fresno County—an agricultural power-house with stubbornly high poverty in the heart of California’s Central Valley—Fresno State does the hard work of upward mobility,” the magazine said.
What makes Fresno State accessible to low-income students?
The publication measured how accessible the institutions are to “median-income-and-below families” based on the number of federal Pell Grant recipients the schools enroll. Fresno State enrolls 12,600 of these students, and the average price their families pay is $5,171 — though its unclear if that’s the cost for one academic year or more.
Still, it’s nearly half the national average of $9,750 in tuition alone for one academic year in-state, according to the Education Data Initiative. That amount jumps to $27,146 when student housing is factored in, the organization said.
Plus, the average student debt at Fresno State is $14,715 — also much less than the national average of $38,375, according to the organization.
The school is also committed to civic engagement, with more than 40% of federal work study funds going to community service, and “17 percent of students graduate with service-oriented degrees like teaching or social work,” the magazine wrote.
It’s also an R2 research university and awards 20 research and scholarship doctoral degrees per year.
“But what makes Fresno State—and the CSU system more broadly—remarkable is not research output or selectivity,” the publication said. “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.”
Most of its 24,000 students come from the surrounding area, the publication said.
“President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval grew up working on a farm in nearby Fowler,” the magazine wrote. “Many of his students have similar stories—raised in farmworker families, spending summers picking crops or helping to run small businesses. Today, they study agricultural science, business, and engineering, not to escape the Central Valley but to reinvest in it. Some go on to run the very firms whose products they once harvested.”
Jiménez-Sandoval spoke about the school’s accessibility and the success of its students in a statement.
“I am overjoyed that our talented students get a world-class, comprehensive education at an affordable price,” the statement said. “This ranking reaffirms our commitment to access and excellence. We educate tomorrow’s leaders who will elevate the quality of life in the Valley, the region and the world.”
The school “runs the first and largest commercial winery in the country operated by students,” Washington Monthly said. “Its research centers support the valley’s multibillion-dollar farm economy, testing everything from herbicide resistance to sustainable irrigation practices. And its library — one of the largest in the CSU system — underscores the school’s intellectual seriousness, even as the campus retains a proudly working-class ethos.”
The university also ranked high on a new list measuring schools that best serve Hispanic students, the school’s statement said.
“As a Hispanic-serving institution in one of the most heavily Latino regions in the country, Fresno State plays a critical role in expanding opportunity,” the publication said. “Nearly 65 percent of students are the first in their family to attend college. Many stay close after graduating. “
How does Washington Monthly rank colleges?
Washington Monthly aimed to counter “the same tired story” that the best colleges are the most exclusive and expensive.
“That leaves the vast majority of prospective students—whose SAT scores and family income aren’t in the upper 1 percent—to navigate one of the most consequential decisions of their lives armed with a deeply skewed picture of what ‘best’ really means,” the publication said. “And it leaves average citizens, whose taxes underwrite the higher education system to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars a year, wondering if the country is getting its money’s worth.”
This was the first year the magazine “combined all four-year colleges and universities—public and private, big and small, research and teaching—into a single master list of more than 1,400 institutions,” the publication said.
The magazine also reimagined its “methodology to focus even more squarely on what (it thinks) Americans most want from our colleges and universities: that they help students of modest means earn degrees that pay off in the marketplace, don’t saddle them with heavy debt, and prepare—indeed, encourage—them to become active members of our democracy.”
The publication ranked the schools across four equally-weighted measures: “access, affordability, outcomes, and community and national service.” The Pell Grant recipients and Pell enrollment performance factor into the two access components.
“This means that top-ranked colleges needed to be excellent across the full breadth of our measures, rather than excelling in just one measure,” the magazine said.
What are Washington Monthly’s 10 best colleges for tuition and tax dollars?
Here are the top 10 colleges for tuition and tax dollars, according to Washington Monthly:
2. California State University – Fresno
3. California State University – Northridge
4. California State University – Los Angeles
5. Princeton University in New Jersey
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
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This story was originally published August 31, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: The order of the top 10 colleges for tuition and tax dollars in the U.S. has been updated.
