UC · CSU · California Private · Entering freshmen · 2023–24

The Pell Ranking

California's four-year universities, ranked by the fewest low-income freshmen first — the share of each school's entering, full-time first-time class that did not receive a federal Pell Grant, the standard marker of a lower-income household. A higher number means fewer Pell students. #1 enrolls the fewest.

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#1 — Pitzer College

Pitzer College tops the list: 92% of its entering freshmen arrived without a Pell Grant — only 8% (23 students) received one, the smallest low-income share of any California university here. At the other end, CSU Dominguez Hills enrolls the most: 80% of its freshmen are Pell recipients. The Pell Grant goes to students from lower-income families, so this ranks schools by the income level of their intake — the most affluent classes (fewest Pell) at the top, the least affluent (most Pell) at the bottom. This is not a measure of diversity: the most economically diverse class would be a roughly even Pell / non-Pell split, which lands in the middle of this list, not at either end.

UC (9) CSU (23) Private (28)

	Institution	Sector	Freshmen without a Pell Grant (100 − Pell %; more = fewer Pell)	Pell %	Pell freshmen
1	Pitzer College	Private	92%	8%	23
2	Santa Clara University	Private	88%	12%	186
3	Scripps College	Private	88%	12%	32
4	Claremont McKenna College	Private	87%	13%	42
5	Loyola Marymount (LMU)	Private	87%	13%	198
6	Point Loma Nazarene University	Private	87%	13%	83
7	Occidental College	Private	84%	16%	86
8	Harvey Mudd College	Private	83%	17%	37
9	Cal Maritime	CSU	82%	18%	26
10	Stanford University	Private	82%	18%	308
11	Cal Poly San Luis Obispo	CSU	80%	20%	1,023
12	Chapman University	Private	80%	20%	364
13	Pepperdine University	Private	80%	20%	150
14	Pomona College	Private	80%	20%	81
15	Caltech	Private	79%	21%	56
16	USC	Private	79%	21%	758
17	Biola University	Private	77%	23%	175
18	University of San Diego	Private	77%	23%	280
19	Saint Mary's College of California	Private	75%	25%	123
20	San Diego State	CSU	75%	25%	1,532
21	UC Berkeley	UC	73%	27%	1,805
22	UCLA	UC	73%	27%	1,789
23	UC Santa Barbara	UC	72%	28%	1,394
24	UC Santa Cruz	UC	72%	28%	1,230
25	Westmont College	Private	72%	28%	88
26	Concordia University Irvine	Private	71%	29%	83
27	University of San Francisco	Private	71%	29%	321
28	Azusa Pacific University	Private	69%	31%	128
29	UC Irvine	UC	69%	31%	2,104
30	UC Davis	UC	67%	33%	2,086
31	California Lutheran University	Private	66%	34%	196
32	Sonoma State	CSU	65%	35%	315
33	Whittier College	Private	64%	36%	52
34	Cal Poly Humboldt	CSU	63%	37%	343
35	San Jose State	CSU	63%	37%	1,599
36	UC San Diego	UC	63%	37%	2,550
37	Dominican University of California	Private	60%	40%	100
38	University of Redlands	Private	60%	40%	191
39	CSU Chico	CSU	59%	41%	872
40	CSU Monterey Bay	CSU	57%	43%	401
41	CSU San Marcos	CSU	54%	46%	1,159
42	UC Riverside	UC	52%	48%	2,659
43	Cal Poly Pomona	CSU	51%	49%	2,057
44	San Francisco State	CSU	49%	51%	1,464
45	CSU Channel Islands	CSU	48%	52%	289
46	CSU Long Beach	CSU	48%	52%	2,947
47	CSU East Bay	CSU	47%	53%	514
48	CSU Fullerton	CSU	46%	54%	3,572
49	Fresno Pacific University	Private	45%	55%	115
50	Sacramento State	CSU	43%	57%	2,171
51	University of La Verne	Private	42%	58%	424
52	UC Merced	UC	40%	60%	1,439
53	Stanislaus State	CSU	37%	63%	624
54	Fresno State	CSU	35%	65%	2,205
55	CSU Northridge	CSU	34%	66%	3,618
56	CSU Bakersfield	CSU	32%	68%	799
57	CSU San Bernardino	CSU	31%	69%	1,499
58	Cal State LA	CSU	21%	79%	2,739
59	Mount Saint Mary's University	Private	21%	79%	354
60	CSU Dominguez Hills	CSU	20%	80%	1,225