Courtesy photo.
CAMARILLO — CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) was ranked #22 overall out of 118 universities on the newly-released U.S. News & World Report 2025 Best Colleges report, which features annual college rankings for the coming year. That’s up eight places from the 2024 report.
U.S. News & World Report ranks its colleges and universities according to region, so CSUCI’s high marks were in the report’s Regional Universities (West) category. The overall high ranking was the result of multiple high scores across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.
One indicator was the Social Mobility category, where CSUCI was ranked 5th, up from the 2024 ranking of 7th. Social mobility is how well a university retains and graduates students with high financial need. CSUCI also came in 12th in the Top Public Schools category, up from 14th in the 2024 rankings.
“This remarkable achievement reflects our unwavering commitment to academic excellence and student success,” said President Richard Yao. “Our significant rise in rankings is not just a number; it signifies our dedication to fostering an inclusive environment that prioritizes social mobility and supports historically underserved and underrepresented students. As the only public institution of higher education in Ventura County, we are honored to serve our diverse student population and empower them to achieve their educational goals.”
The rankings are based on in-depth analyses of a wide variety of data points including graduation rates, faculty resources, admissions selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, location, campus life; range of academic offerings, activities and sports; and cost and the availability of financial aid for students.
To see the entire list of rankings, visit the US News & World Report website.