UC Irvine and UCLA are ranked in the number two and three spots, respectively, in Money magazine’s annual list of the 50 Best Colleges in the U.S., released Monday.

Money based the rankings on a number of factors, including median SAT and ACT scores, graduation rates, estimated tuition costs with and without monetary aid, average student debt and alumni earnings.

Princeton University was ranked number one, followed by UC San Diego. Stanford University rounded out the top five.

The magazine put the cost to attend UCI in 2018-19 at $34,700 without aid and $14,800 with aid, and estimated the percentage of students who get grants at 96 percent. The average UCI student’s debt was estimated at $17,000, while early career earnings are estimated at $54,900, according to the magazine’s data. The median SAT/ACT scores of UCI students is 1200/27.

The cost to attend UCLA, where the SAT/ACT median score is 1320/31, is listed as $34,700 without aid and $15,300 with aid. The number of students getting grants was estimated at 96 percent; average student debt was put at $16,300; and early career earnings estimated at $57,500.

Other Southland schools on the list include Caltech in Pasadena, ranked 12th, Cal State Long Beach (22); Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson (45); Cal Poly Pomona (47); Pomona College (71); Cal State Fullerton (84); Cal State Northridge (89); Claremont McKenna College (106); and USC (113).

To be considered for the rankings, each university has to have at least 500 students, sufficient data for analysis, not be in financial distress and have a graduation rate equal to or higher than the median for the institution’s category. In total, 727 schools met the requirements and were then weighted by education quality, affordability and outcomes.

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