Students gather on the UCLA campus in Westwood on Sept. 10, 2025.

Amid threats of million-dollar budget cuts from the Donald Trump administration, UCLA lost its spot as the best public university in the nation after eight years on a popular rankings list.

In the annual list published Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report, UC Berkeley snatched the title as the country’s best public university, surpassing UCLA, which came in second. Further down the list, the University of Michigan maintained its No. 3 slot from last year, the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tied for No. 4, and UC San Diego took the No. 6 slot.

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In the overall list of public and private universities, which includes more than 1,700 schools, UC Berkeley ranked 15th, and UCLA ranked 17th. And

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