by our College Data Analytics TeamVanguard University of Southern California is a private not-for-profit institution in Costa Mesa, California enrolling 1,933 undergraduates. It accepts 62% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 57%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #531 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 10%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Vanguard University of Southern California ranks #531 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 10%.
College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.
Vanguard University of Southern California was awarded 39 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, Vanguard University is ranked #531 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.
Vanguard University also holds the #78 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.
See all of the rankings for Vanguard University of Southern California.
Vanguard University of Southern California has an acceptance rate of 62%, 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 Vanguard University.
Learn more about Vanguard University of Southern California admissions.
With a student to faculty ratio of 13 to 1, Vanguard University of Southern California 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.
In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Vanguard University of Southern California is 100%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
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 Vanguard University of Southern California is 70%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Vanguard University for first-time, full-time students is 57%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
The current enrollment includes 1,933 undergraduates at Vanguard University.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Vanguard University of Southern California.
The typical net cost at Vanguard University is $17,140. 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.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $17,225 | $18,462 | $18,976 | $24,117 | $27,684 |
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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Vanguard University, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
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 Vanguard University, approximately 57% of students took out student loans averaging $10,036 a year. That adds up to $40,144 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 4.0%. 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 Vanguard University of Southern California.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Vanguard U of Southern California make around $59,541 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future Vanguard U of Southern California graduates since it is 21% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Vanguard University of Southern California make the most money.
Vanguard University of Southern California is a private not-for-profit institution located in Costa Mesa, California. Costa Mesa is a great location for students who prefer city over country life. Get more details about the location of Vanguard University of Southern California.
Contact details for Vanguard U of Southern California can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 55 Fair Dr, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 |
| Phone: | 7145563610 |
| Website: | www.vanguard.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_University_of_Southern_California |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/vanguarduniversity |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/vanguardu |
In the latest year of available data, students from 18 majors graduated from Vanguard University of Southern California. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 557 | NA |
| General Psychology | 70 | $31,534 |
| Business Administration & Management | 65 | $37,217 |
| Nursing | 62 | $91,857 |
| Clinical & Counseling Psychology | 57 | $54,112 |
| Health & Physical Education | 50 | NA |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 32 | NA |
| General Biology | 28 | NA |
| General Education | 26 | NA |
| Communication & Media Studies | 25 | $30,413 |
1,147 students took at least one online class at Vanguard University of Southern California.
Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
Learn more about online learning at Vanguard University of Southern California.
Want to see how other colleges compare to Vanguard University? Match them up using College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges on the features that matter most to you.
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.