This is the Best College for Your Money by Kaitlin Mulhere Five years ago, a group of faculty members at the University of California-Irvine decided to “out” themselves. At the large research university, where more than half of students are the first in their families to go to college, these faculty would proudly say: Us, too. It was a simple gesture. But it carried a powerful message for those 14,000 undergrads at Irvine.