It has been a tough year for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as well as the University of Southern California (USC) as they faced federal funding cuts and pressure to redefine its approach to diversity and inclusion.
Now the 2026 college rankings by U.S. News & World Report showed the two Los Angeles rivals slipped a bit compared to the previous year with the potential to be ranked lower in the coming years.
The latest report showed UCLA stood as No. 17 among top 100 national universities for 2026 while USC at No. 28.
In the previous year, UCLA was ranked No. 15 and USC at No. 27.
Among the factors that determine colleges’ rankings are outcomes, including graduation rates and graduate indebtedness.
For UCLA, 85% of its students are likely to graduate within four years. When graduating students get their diplomas, they end up with the debt of $19,209 on average.
USC has a four-year graduation rate of 74% while graduates ended up with a debt of $27,678 on average.
But when comparing the median salary six years after graduation, USC alumni make about $74,000, $15,000 more than UCLA’s median salary of $59,000.
Because of the looming federal funding cuts, both colleges could see their rankings drop further as faculty resources, such as the percentage of full-time faculty, and financial resources, including the amount of money schools spend on research, could be reduced at least during the Trump administration.
In August, the federal government suspended $584 million in grants over allegations of civil rights violations related to antisemitism and affirmative action. Earlier this week, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore the federal grant funding, but it’s not clear whether the White House will appeal the decision.
Feeling the pressure from the current administration, USC has made significant changes to its diversity and inclusion policy, announcing that it would no longer use the term “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” while implementing austerity measures, including a hiring freeze.
The college in Exposition Park cited “disagreements” surrounding the DEI phrase and its interpretations for abandoning the term DEI after the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to schools and universities in February, urging them to eliminate programs that promote DEI to avoid risking federal funding.
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
