This August, Money Magazine published its annual list of “Best Colleges for Your Money:” a ranking of colleges based on quality and affordability. After analyzing more than 19,000 data points and over 700 colleges, the list landed Baruch College in second place.

In order to make it on the list, institutions had to meet all of the following initial requirements: the institutions must have at least 500 students, have reliable data to be analyzed, they couldn’t be in financial distress and they had to have a graduation rate at or above its institutional category.

 Baruch met all of these requirements with flying colors with 15,000 undergraduate students, reliable record-keeping and a graduation rate 

Money Magazine described as “a rate that is nearly 41% higher than at schools with students from similar academic and economic backgrounds.”

Money Magazine continued ranking each school that passed this test by putting them into three categories: quality of education, affordability and post-graduation outcomes.  

Money Magazine identified several things, such as the quality of campus life and student diversity as factors that led Baruch to gain the second spot on this list. 

The Money Magazine article also mentioned that Baruch claims one of the country’s highest socioeconomic mobility rates. 

However, the one statistic that secured Baruch’s spot was its graduates’ success rates. The article states that alumni earn “an average of $57,100 in their early careers,” which they identify as about 10% higher than graduates from similar universities. 

Baruch’s estimated price with average grant for 2019-2020 is $4,900, and the average student debt is $10,720.

The list included other CUNY institutions as well. 

Brooklyn College, John Jay College, Queens College, Lehman College and City College all made it on the list. 

Similar to Baruch, they all made it on the list because of their graduation rates, quality of campus life, quality of education and graduate success.  Baruch came second only to the University of California Irvine, but ranked higher than universities of the likes of Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and Yale University. However, this ranking comes as no surprise to current Baruch students. 

When asked if he was surprised at Baruch’s ranking, rising junior Adnan Ahsan said, “Not really. I knew it was the best ‘bang for your buck’ school.” 

Ahsan believed Baruch’s high ranking was appropriate. “It gets the job done.” Ahsan agreed with the article, but also added that he believed that the school’s history as a business school also helps. 

“The cost of tuition, the massive amount of networking events and emphasis on focusing on your career along with professors with real world experiences help.” 

However, Ahsan agreed that this ranking doesn’t guarantee everyone’s experience at Baruch. “I am confident for as much work I put into it, he said. “Going to Baruch won’t guarantee me a career: I have to work for it.” 

Overall, Baruch gained second place on Money Magazine’s “Best Colleges for Your Money” for its outstanding quality of education, diversity, tuition cost and post-graduate success.