Southern California Seminary
About
Southern California Seminary is an accredited private institution of theological higher education located in El Cajon, California, with a founding history dating back to 1946. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs in Biblical Studies, Theology, and Behavioral Sciences, and focuses on equipping students for ministry based on the inerrant Word of God.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 14 Title IV programs, 0 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 14 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing0 · 0.0%
- No Data14 · 100.0%
- Failing0 · 0.0%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, Accreditation Commission
Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, Accreditation Commission
Programmatic accreditations · 1
Action history · 2
- Oct 2025Renewal of AccreditationTransnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, Accreditation Commission
- Jul 2016Renewal of AccreditationTransnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, Accreditation Commission
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 14 students received $42K in Pell grants, alongside $814K in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 46 borrowers who entered repayment, 1 (2.1%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Southern California Seminary
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Southern California Seminary vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Southern California Seminary selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectSouthern California Seminary | 50% | — | 161 | — | Baccalaureate |
Bethesda University | 8% | 66.9% | 263 | $8,388 | Baccalaureate |
John Paul the Great Catholic University | 64% | 79.6% | 286 | $29,124 | Baccalaureate |
Life Pacific University | 38% | 95.8% | 621 | $22,343 | Baccalaureate |
Whitworth University-Adult Degree Programs | — | 28.6% | 145 | — | Baccalaureate |
Pacific Union College | 45% | 47.3% | 974 | $20,979 | Baccalaureate |
| Peer group median | 45% | 66.9% | 275 | $21,661 |
Southern California Seminary Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
The page provides the Southern California Seminary's Annual Statement of Educational Effectiveness, including data by degree program in an Enrollment Analysis Summary PDF. The file was last updated on October 14, 2022 and can be downloaded from the page.
Visit IR office page- Dr. Gino PasquarielloVice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Provost
Frequently asked questions about Southern California Seminary
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Southern California Seminary.
What is the graduation rate at Southern California Seminary?
How many students attend Southern California Seminary?
Where is Southern California Seminary located?
Who runs Institutional Research at Southern California Seminary?
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