Cal State Long Beach has been recognized by the Princeton Review as “Best in the West” for the strength of its academic program in the “2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region.”

“We have been one of the ‘Best in the West,’ for a few years now,” CSULB President F. King Alexander said. “It’s been one of our bragging points.”

Alexander said he was especially proud that CSULB was the only Cal State to be designated as one of the “Fifty Best Values,” in the Princeton Review.

“In tough economic times like this, parents don’t want to spend a lot of money,” he said. “They are more likely to look for good educational value.”

Schools chosen as one of the “Best in the West” are selected from students’ responses to an 80-question survey, with questions ranging from professor accessibility to campus food quality.

Only schools that agreed to have its students independently surveyed were eligible to make the list that was posted on Aug. 1.

“We’re pleased to recommend Cal State Long Beach to users of our site as one of the best schools to earn their undergrad degree,” Princeton Review’s Senior Vice President Robert Franek said in a release.

Only 629 schools — less than a quarter of the nation’s 4-year colleges — were placed on one of the four “regional best lists.”

Other CSUs dubbed “Best in the West” include San Bernardino, East Bay and Stanislaus.

Student comments taken from the survey were posted on the profiles for all of the schools recognized.

All of the lists are based entirely on information compiled from student-surveys at the 376 schools in the book.