California Lutheran University Overview

California Lutheran University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Thousand Oaks, California. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

What Is California Lutheran University Known For?

• The student loan default rate at CLU is 3%, which is significantly lower than the national rate of 10.1%. That's great news for students who are worrying about paying off their student loans.
• Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at CLU.
• In 2019-2020, 100% of the faculty were full-time.
• A student who earns a bachelor's degree from CLU makes roughly $59,684 a year. This is 46% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
• It takes the average CLU student 4.1 years to graduate. This is pretty good when compared to the national rate of 4.4 years.

California Lutheran University Rankings

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at CLU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#5	Best Other Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#10	Best Value Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#10	Best Management Information Systems Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#19	Best Student Counseling Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#23	Best Educational Administration Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#39	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#65	Best Special Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#105	Best Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#117	Best Business Administration & Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#167	Best Business, Management & Marketing Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards CLU has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#4	Best Communication & Journalism (Other) Schools	College Factual
#4	Best Other Communication, Journalism, & Related Programs Schools	College Factual
#5	Best Communication & Journalism (Other) Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#45	Best Counselor Education/School Counseling & Guidance Services Schools	College Factual
#47	Best Student Counseling Schools	College Factual
#70	Best Teaching Schools	Teaching Degree Search

Where Is California Lutheran University?

Contact details for CLU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	60 W Olsen Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360-2787
Phone:	805-492-2411
Website:	www.callutheran.edu/
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/callutheran
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/CalLutheran

How Do I Get Into CLU?

You can apply to CLU online at: www.callutheran.edu/admission/apply.html

Admission Requirements for CLU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into CLU?

With an acceptance rate of 74%, CLU may not be as selective as some schools, but you should not take admittance for granted. Be sure to submit the best application you can.

Approximately 42% of accepted students are men and 58% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 73%, and the acceptance rate for women is 76%.

Average Test Scores

About 81% of students accepted to CLU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 540 and 620. Math scores were between 530 and 620.

CLU received ACT scores from 27% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 20 and 27. Math scores were between 18 and 26. Composite scores were between 20 and 27.

Can I Afford California Lutheran University?

The overall average net price of CLU is $41,330. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

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 CLU, approximately 59% of students took out student loans averaging $7,088 a year. That adds up to $28,352 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at CLU is 2.7%. 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.

California Lutheran University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,804 undergraduate students at CLU, with 2,714 being full-time and 90 being part-time.

There are also 1,223 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,714 full-time undergraduates at CLU, 43% are male and 57% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of California Lutheran University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	147
Black or African American	98
Hispanic or Latino	1,061
White	1,068
International Students	66
Other Races/Ethnicities	274

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at California Lutheran University. At this time, 26 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 52 countries are represented at CLU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan.

Online Learning at California Lutheran University

In 2019-2020, 4,023 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at CLU has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 97th most popular in California for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of CLU

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at California Lutheran University was $45,982 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how CLU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Entrepreneurial Studies	#24	#24
International Business	#63	#63
Finance & Financial Management	#75	#75

Online Affordability Rankings of CLU Rankings

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at California Lutheran University was $45,982 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how CLU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Finance & Financial Management	#54	#54

Online Growth Rankings of CLU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at California Lutheran University was 904.6%. This is the #117 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at CLU regardless of major.

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at CLU ranks compared to all other mostly online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at CLU.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Finance & Financial Management	#1
Business Administration & Management	#19
Business, Management & Marketing	#37

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

California Lutheran University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	132	4	93	0	229
General Psychology	123	0	0	0	123
Educational Administration	0	0	55	15	70
Student Counseling	0	0	63	0	63
Communication & Media Studies	62	0	0	0	62
General Biology	56	0	0	0	56
Health & Physical Education	54	0	0	0	54
Criminology	53	0	0	0	53
Accounting	47	0	0	0	47
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	31	0	14	0	45
Communication & Journalism (Other)	40	0	0	0	40
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	33	0	33
Political Science & Government	31	0	0	0	31
Liberal Arts General Studies	30	0	0	0	30
Public Policy	0	0	30	0	30
Finance & Financial Management	0	0	29	0	29
Marketing	0	1	28	0	29
Computer Science	29	0	0	0	29
Computer Information Systems	0	0	25	0	25
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	0	14	11	25
Economics	9	0	14	0	23
Information Science	17	4	0	0	21
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	19	0	0	0	19
Music	19	0	0	0	19
Sociology	18	0	0	0	18
Theological & Ministerial Studies	0	0	16	0	16
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	13	0	0	0	13
Romance Languages	13	0	0	0	13
General English Literature	11	0	0	0	11
History	10	0	0	0	10
Mathematics	10	0	0	0	10
Special Education	0	0	8	0	8
Philosophy	8	0	0	0	8
Drama & Theater Arts	8	0	0	0	8
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	8	0	0	0	8
Entrepreneurial Studies	0	0	7	0	7
Natural Resources Conservation	7	0	0	0	7
Chemistry	6	0	0	0	6
Physics	6	0	0	0	6
Human Resource Management	0	0	5	0	5
International Business	0	0	5	0	5
Fine & Studio Arts	5	0	0	0	5
International Relations & National Security	4	0	0	0	4
Management Information Systems	0	0	1	0	1
Religious Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Geological & Earth Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	880	9	440	26	1,355

References

*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.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Niceley under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.