Recent rankings placed Fresno Pacific University in the top 20 for U.S. News & World Report’s Best Value category (Regional Universities West) and the top 50 for Washington Monthly’s Best Bang for the Buck—West.
This follows FPU’s July 2025 announcement of receiving Money’s highest rating of five stars in its 2025 Best Colleges in the United States list. FPU was the only Christian college or university in the Western United States to receive this top rating from Money.
“We are grateful to see Fresno Pacific University recognized for the good work we are doing,” says FPU President André Stephens. “Our students’ success is our success. These positive rankings affirm that we are accomplishing what we have set out to do: provide a quality, Christ-centered education that will make a lasting impact in students’ lives.”
Washington Monthly
In 2025, FPU ranked number 58 nationally in Washington Monthly’s Master’s University category, up 14 spots from 2024, when they ranked 72. FPU was also number 45 for the Best Bang for the Buck—West, making FPU the number one university among the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities in this category.
This year, Washington Monthly changed the methodology behind their main rankings. Whereas they previously used three equally weighted metrics (social mobility, research and service), they now have four equally weighted portions: access, affordability, outcomes and community and national service.
“This means that top-ranked colleges needed to be excellent across the full breadth of our measures, rather than excelling in just one measure,” states the Washington Monthly website.
U.S. News & World Report
This year, FPU ranked number 46 in U.S. News’ Regional Universities—West category, up one spot from 2024. FPU also moved up two spots in the Best Value category (Regional Universities West), landing at number 17.
U.S. News determines a Best Value university by looking at the school’s academic quality balanced with the net cost to attend. According to the U.S. News website, “The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal.”
U.S. News also ranked FPU number 28 in Top Performers on Social Mobility.
Fresno Pacific University is California’s Central Valley’s only accredited Christian university, connecting every student’s untapped potential with unlimited opportunity for professional, personal and ethical growth. Nonprofit and independent, FPU offers more than 100 areas of study to about 4,000 traditional undergraduate, adult degree completion, graduate and seminary students at the main campus in Southeast Fresno and throughout the Valley at regional campuses in North Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield and Merced as well as online.
