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La Sierra University Data & Information Overview

10 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
66% Acceptance Rate
Want the scoop on La Sierra University? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors La Sierra offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
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How Well Is La Sierra University Ranked?

#1,419 Best Colleges in Nation
#140 Best Colleges in CA
Marketing Highest Ranked Major

2024 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

La Sierra University was awarded 10 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is marketing.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

La Sierra landed the #1,419 spot in College Factual's 2024 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,217 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. La Sierra has maintained this ranking for at least two years in a row.

La Sierra is also ranked #140 out of 168 schools in California.

See all of the rankings for La Sierra University.

Is It Hard to Get Into La Sierra?

66% Acceptance Rate
69% Of Accepted Are Women
25% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

La Sierra University has an acceptance rate of 66%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for La Sierra.

Average Test Scores

About 25% of students accepted to La Sierra submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 460 and 570. Math scores were between 420 and 570.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for La Sierra University  ( 460 to 570 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for La Sierra University  ( 420 to 570 )
200
800
La Sierra received ACT scores from 2% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 18 and 28.

ACT Composite Scores for La Sierra University  ( 18 to 28 )
1
36

Learn more about La Sierra University admissions.

La Sierra University Faculty

16 to 1 Student to Faculty
44% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

With a student to faculty ratio of 16 to 1, La Sierra University is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it's a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at La Sierra University is 44%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  44 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at La Sierra University

72% Freshmen Retention
24% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at La Sierra University is 72%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  72 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full time students who obtain their bachelor's degree in four years or less. This rate is 24% for first-time, full-time students at La Sierra, which is lower than the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  24 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at La Sierra University.

La Sierra University Undergraduate Student Diversity

1,343 Full-Time Undergraduates
79.4% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
60.5% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 1,577 undergraduates at La Sierra with 1,343 being full-time and 234 being part-time.

How Much Does La Sierra University Cost?

$22,909 Net Price
60% Take Out Loans
$21,304 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of La Sierra is $22,909. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for La Sierra

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$19,752 $19,101 $23,355 $24,911 $29,970

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of La Sierra, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At La Sierra, approximately 60% of students took out student loans averaging $5,326 a year. That adds up to $21,304 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at La Sierra is 3.5%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for La Sierra University.

How Much Money Do La Sierra Graduates Make?

$55,004 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from La Sierra make around $55,004 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future La Sierra graduates since it is 29% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at La Sierra University make the most money.

Location of La Sierra University

California State
1,343 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
La Sierra University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Riverside, California. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

Get more details about the location of La Sierra University.

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Contact details for La Sierra are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, CA 92505-8247
Phone: 951-785-2000
Website: https://lasierra.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaSierraU
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lasierranews

La Sierra University Majors

55 Majors With Completions
334 Undergraduate Degrees
93 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 55 majors graduated from La Sierra University. Of these students, 334 received undergraduate degrees and 93 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Criminal Justice & Corrections 60 $28,359
Business Administration & Management 30 $38,431
Health & Physical Education 28 $31,215
General Biology 27 NA
Social Work 26 NA
Marketing 23 NA
Liberal Arts General Studies 18 NA
General Psychology 16 $32,179
Public Health 13 NA
Finance & Financial Management 11 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at La Sierra University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at La Sierra

100% Take At Least One Class Online

Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.

In 2020-2021, 1,738 students took at least one online class at La Sierra University. This is an increase from the 0 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 1,738 0
2019-2020 0 0
2018-2019 4 2
2017-2018 2 2
2016-2017 2 2

Learn more about online learning at La Sierra University.

If you’re considering La Sierra University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against La Sierra? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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