BROWNSVILLE, Texas - UT-Rio Grande Valley ranks second in Washington Monthly’s new Best Hispanic-Serving Institutions league table.
California State University-Los Angeles ranked No. 1, and Texas A&M International University in Laredo came in at No. 3.
“In a time of enrollment crunch, universities have a moral and existential obligation to serve the one student population that’s growing. We tracked how good a job they’re doing,” Washington Monthly editor Rob Wolfe stated.
Here is Washington Monthly’s analysis of its Best Hispanic-Serving Colleges rankings:
“In the near future, a collegiate crisis is looming. Beyond the federal government’s ongoing assault on higher education, with its politicized investigations and threats to funding, an inevitable and devastating cliff awaits. We’re talking, of course, about enrollment.
“As the abnormally large Millennial generation gives way to the smaller Gen Z, American colleges are losing their ability to fill seats—and balance their budgets. Between 2010 and 2021, universities lost 15 percent of their student population, or about 2.7 million people. Hundreds of schools closed. As if that weren’t enough, demographers predict that those numbers will soon plummet again, decreasing by as much as another 15 percent by 2039. Losing close to a third of their student population in total will likely mean lights out for many more schools.
“There is hope, however. Even as the general population shrank, Hispanic students made up 80 percent of increases in degree attainment between 2017 and 2022. Numbers of Hispanic high school graduates are projected to increase by 16 percent by 2041. Given the existential importance of serving this population, one might think that colleges would be ferociously competing to recruit these students and get them through school, and that major education publications would be closely tracking their progress.
“But there are few such measures of excellence out there, and the rankings of Hispanic-serving schools that do exist mostly rely on generalized data, rather than numbers that tell you specifically how Hispanic students are doing. And that’s why this year the Washington Monthly, in collaboration with the non-profit Excelencia in Education, is releasing a comparison of how schools serve this all-important population.”
Washington Monthly says that many of the top performers, like UT–Rio Grande Valley (number two among four-year schools) and Fresno State (number eight), are favorites in Monthly’s overall rankings. “That’s no accident—those schools are already focused on delivering a quality education at low cost to underprivileged student populations.”
In the overall rankings, UTRGV is ranked No. 7 nationally and No. 1 in Texas in the magazine’s 2025 College Guide & Rankings. The guide highlights colleges' commitment to affordability, access, and strong student outcomes.
“There’s nothing generic about UTRGV. Its programs reflect the needs of the borderlands,” Wolfe said. “And its students, overwhelmingly local, are reshaping what public higher education can look like when built with – and for – a community. UTRGV is redefining what a regional public university can do.”
Washington Monthly says it rates schools based on what they do for the country. “It’s our answer to U.S. News & World Report, which relies on crude and easily manipulated measures of wealth, exclusivity, and prestige,” the magazine states.
“This recognition speaks directly to who we are as a university,” said UTRGV President Guy Bailey. “For ten years, we’ve committed to affordability, access, and completion – and being ranked seventh in the nation and first in Texas reflects that mission. This is more than a milestone; it’s a blueprint for the future of public higher education. We are just getting started.”
In the national rankings, UTRGV is the only Texas university in this year’s Top 30; the next Texas institution doesn’t appear until No. 46.
UTRGV ranks alongside Princeton (No. 5) and ahead of several highly selective universities, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (10), Stanford (13), the University of Pennsylvania (15), Duke (16), Cornell (21), Brigham Young University (BYU) (22), Harvard (28), and Brown (29).
Bailey said the placement reflects UTRGV’s combination of low net price, strong social mobility impact, growing research activity and workforce contributions across healthcare and other high-demand fields.
“When the top 10 universities in the nation were named, UTRGV stood alone in representing Texas – and by a significant margin,” Bailey said. “That speaks volumes about the determination of every student, faculty and staff member at UTRGV. We like to call UTRGV The Future of Texas – and today, the nation agrees.”
UTRGV Vice President Veronica Gonzales was equally thrilled. “Amazing and three years in a row. Thank you to the many government and community partners that support UTRGV and help us expand opportunities for our students,” Gonzales said, in a post on social media.
Published for nearly two decades, Washington Monthly’s College Guide ranks more than 1,400 four-year institutions based on the value they provide to students and taxpayers.
The 2025 methodology weights four areas equally – access, affordability, outcomes and community & national service – drawing on federal datasets (IPEDS, College Scorecard, NSF). Metrics are standardized, averaged across three years, and capped to limit outliers.
