UC Santa Barbara placed No. 30 on U.S. News & World Report’s latest ranking of national universities and sixth among public universities, one of three Central Coast colleges in the top 10 in its category.

U.S. News released its annual “Best Colleges” lists for 2021 on Sept. 14, with the six colleges in the Tri-Counties well represented. UCSB ranked among the top 10 national public universities for the seventh straight year, while Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo ranked third among the 127 regional universities in the West and No. 1 among public universities in the West. California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks was 10^th in the West, and CSU Channel Islands, located near Camarillo, was No. 43.

Among the 223 national liberal arts colleges, Thomas Aquinas College, near Santa Paula, was No. 40 and Westmont College in Montecito was No. 113.

U.S. News rankings are based on traditional measures like admission rate, student test scores and faculty research honors, as well as newer factors like student debt and social mobility. Princeton, Harvard and Columbia—all private Ivy League schools—were the top ranked national universities, and UCLA and UC Berkeley topped the public schools list.