California State University, Bakersfield has about 9,000 undergraduates, and it offers 35 undergraduate majors. The federal government designates it as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, and nearly 68% of its students identify as Hispanic.
The university couples strong STEM offerings with wide-ranging humanities courses and a flexible interdisciplinary major program, which lets students meld two or more fields into a customized academic path. Students say the professors and staff are dedicated and want to help you succeed.
Like much of the Cal State system, the Bakersfield campus scores well in Money’s analysis for its relative affordability: More than 80% of students get grants or scholarships and students from families earning up to $110,000 pay less than $10,000 a year. It’s also a stand out for social mobility, scoring near the top of think tank Third Way’s Economic Mobility Index.
Bakersfield isn’t known as a residential college. While there are student dorms, roughly 95% of students commute or live off campus. For sports lovers, Bakersfield has 16 athletic teams competing in NCAA Division I, so here's always an event to attend or a game in which you can cheer on the Roadrunners — "Runners," as students call them.
