Vanguard University of Southern California
About
Vanguard University is a private Protestant university in Costa Mesa, California. Vanguard's required core curriculum includes courses on American politics and history, theology, fine arts, and public speaking.
Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Pell and non-Pell students graduate at nearly identical rates — a notably small equity gap.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 45 Title IV programs, 4 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 41 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing4 · 8.9%
- No Data41 · 91.1%
- 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.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
WASC Senior College and University Commission
Programmatic accreditations · 3
Action history · 5
- Jun 2025Renewal of AccreditationWASC Senior College and University Commission
- Apr 2024Renewal of AccreditationCommission on Collegiate Nursing Education · Nursing (CNURED) - Nursing education programs at the baccalaureate degree levels
- May 2019Renewal of AccreditationCommission on Collegiate Nursing Education · Nursing (CNURED) - Nursing education programs at the graduate degree levels
- Jun 2017Renewal of AccreditationWASC Senior College and University Commission
- Aug 2014Change in Agency recognitionNational Association of Schools of Theatre, Commission on Accreditation · Theatre (THEA) - Institutions and units within institutions offering degree-granting and/or non-degree-granting programs
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 988 students received $5.9M in Pell grants, alongside $14.8M 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 620 borrowers who entered repayment, 7 (1.1%) 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 Vanguard
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
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 10
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
- On campus8
- Public property3
Includes 4 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
- Race1
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Vanguard vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Vanguard 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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectVanguard University of Southern California | 57% | — | 2,246 | $19,761 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
Azusa Pacific University | 62% | 88.4% | 6,272 | $19,798 | R2 Research |
Biola University | 68% | 74.3% | 5,434 | $28,101 | Doctoral/Professional |
California Baptist University | 62% | 84.9% | 11,902 | $27,384 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Calvin University | 74% | 70.9% | 3,681 | $24,783 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs |
Concordia University-Irvine | 58% | 66.0% | 3,658 | $28,046 | Doctoral/Professional |
Evangel University | 65% | 71.6% | 2,289 | $18,705 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
George Fox University | 72% | 93.5% | 4,916 | $29,981 | Doctoral/Professional |
Gordon College | 69% | 69.2% | 1,595 | $24,817 | Baccalaureate |
Northwest University | 68% | 83.2% | 1,053 | $25,161 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
Point Loma Nazarene University | 77% | 83.7% | 4,757 | $50,168 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Seattle Pacific University | 62% | 83.4% | 2,261 | $24,820 | Doctoral/Professional |
Southeastern University | 44% | 53.0% | 11,510 | $30,209 | Doctoral/Professional |
University of Valley Forge | 49% | 61.2% | 589 | $27,499 | Baccalaureate |
Westmont College | 70% | 77.0% | 1,310 | $32,926 | Baccalaureate |
Wheaton College | 85% | 87.4% | 2,874 | $26,984 | Baccalaureate |
| Peer group median | 67% | 77.0% | 3,266 | $27,184 |
Reports & documents (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Frequently asked questions about Vanguard University of Southern California
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Vanguard.
What is the graduation rate at Vanguard University of Southern California?
How many students attend Vanguard University of Southern California?
What is the average net price at Vanguard University of Southern California?
What is the yield rate at Vanguard University of Southern California?
Where is Vanguard University of Southern California located?
Have a question this page can’t answer?
Ask Clema anything about Vanguard University of Southern California and its peers — plain language in, cited answers out, in minutes instead of days.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card