California State University - Los Angeles Overview

Located in Los Angeles, California, California State University - Los Angeles is a public institution. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

What Is California State University - Los Angeles Known For?

• The student loan default rate at Cal State LA is 4%, 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.
• The highest award offered at Cal State LA is the doctor's degree.
• For the 2017-2018 academic year, 41% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from Cal State LA with a bachelor's degree make about $46,100 a year. That's 13% more than those who graduate from other schools.

California State University - Los Angeles 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.

Cal State LA has been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#72	Most Popular Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#134	Most Popular Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#182	Most Popular Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Cal State LA.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#4	Best Value Special Education Doctor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best Student Counseling Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#16	Best Special Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#24	Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#33	Best Public Administration Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#37	Best Social Work Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#45	Best Value History Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#45	Best Value History Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#50	Best Value Student Counseling Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#59	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Cal State LA has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#29	Best Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting Colleges for Non-Traditional Students	College Factual
#35	Best Social Work Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#41	Best Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#58	Highest Paid Nursing Graduates	College Factual
#59	Best Teaching Master’s Degree Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#104	Best Nursing Colleges for Veterans	College Factual

Where Is California State University - Los Angeles?

Contact details for Cal State LA are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	5151 State University Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90032-8506
Phone:	323-343-3000
Website:	www.calstatela.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/CalStateLA
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/calstatela

How Do I Get Into Cal State LA?

You can apply to Cal State LA online at: https://www2.calstate.edu/apply

Admission Requirements for Cal State LA

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	neither required nor recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	neither required nor recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into Cal State LA?

You'll need to do what you can to make your application stand out if you plan to apply to Cal State LA. The school screens its applicants carefully and has a fairly low acceptance rate of 46%. So, don't just throw your admission packet together at the last minute!

Approximately 39% of accepted students are men and 61% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 44%, and the acceptance rate for women is 48%.

Average Test Scores

About 95% of students accepted to Cal State LA submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 450 and 540. Math scores were between 440 and 540.

Cal State LA received ACT scores from 41% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 14 and 20. Math scores were between 16 and 21. Composite scores were between 15 and 20.

Can I Afford California State University - Los Angeles?

The overall average net price of Cal State LA is $28,280. 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

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Cal State LA, approximately 20% of students took out student loans averaging $4,282 a year. That adds up to $17,128 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Cal State LA is 4.3%. 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 State University - Los Angeles Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 22,797 undergraduate students at Cal State LA, with 19,729 being full-time and 3,068 being part-time.

There are also 3,874 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 19,729 full-time undergraduates at Cal State LA, 42% are male and 58% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of California State University - Los Angeles students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	2,450
Black or African American	593
Hispanic or Latino	13,869
White	821
International Students	1,335
Other Races/Ethnicities	661

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at California State University - Los Angeles. At this time, 12 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 71 countries are represented at Cal State LA. The most popular countries sending students to the school are India, China, and Saudi Arabia.

Online Learning at California State University - Los Angeles

In 2017-2018, 8,889 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

Online Growth Rankings of Cal State LA

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at California State University - Los Angeles was 7.9%. This is the #1,460 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Cal State LA regardless of major.

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 State University - Los Angeles 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	1,078	23	65	0	1,166
Sociology	429	0	14	0	443
Social Work	233	0	140	0	373
Criminal Justice & Corrections	315	0	19	0	334
Teacher Education Grade Specific	298	0	12	0	310
General Psychology	288	0	10	0	298
Health & Physical Education	257	0	11	0	268
Nursing	165	13	68	0	246
Public Health	227	0	0	0	227
Communication & Media Studies	200	0	23	0	223
Liberal Arts General Studies	202	8	0	0	210
Computer Information Systems	152	6	48	0	206
Communication Sciences	162	8	20	0	190
Computer Science	123	0	60	0	183
Mechanical Engineering	150	0	17	0	167
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	158	0	0	0	158
General Biology	132	0	17	0	149
Nutrition Science	112	0	31	0	143
Fine & Studio Arts	131	0	6	0	137
Electrical Engineering	79	0	51	0	130
General Education	0	36	90	0	126
Student Counseling	0	19	100	0	119
Civil Engineering	94	0	13	0	107
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	95	0	0	0	95
General English Literature	78	0	15	0	93
Political Science & Government	77	0	6	0	83
History	49	0	20	0	69
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	57	0	0	0	57
Special Education	0	0	55	2	57
Educational Administration	0	0	35	15	50
Music	32	0	18	0	50
Anthropology	34	0	14	0	48
Mathematics	33	0	14	0	47
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	0	43	0	43
Industrial Production Technology	40	0	0	0	40
Fire Protection	40	0	0	0	40
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology	38	0	0	0	38
Chemistry	18	0	20	0	38
Drama & Theater Arts	35	0	3	0	38
Teacher Education Subject Specific	24	3	9	0	36
Economics	22	0	12	0	34
Philosophy	17	0	16	0	33
Public Administration	0	0	31	0	31
Ethnic Studies	24	0	5	0	29
Romance Languages	21	0	5	0	26
Geography & Cartography	13	7	4	0	24
Teaching English or French	0	3	16	0	19
Accounting	0	2	16	0	18
Physics	5	0	13	0	18
Area Studies	5	0	11	0	16
Geological & Earth Sciences	10	0	6	0	16
Natural Sciences	15	0	0	0	15
Food Science Technology	14	0	0	0	14
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	13	0	0	13
East Asian Languages	11	0	0	0	11
Graphic Communications	10	0	0	0	10
Biotechnology	0	8	0	0	8
General Visual & Performing Arts	0	0	8	0	8
Natural Resources Conservation	0	0	7	0	7
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	5	0	5
Multilingual Education	0	1	0	0	1
General Engineering	1	0	0	0	1
Real Estate	0	0	0	0	0
Journalism	0	0	0	0	0
Information Science	0	0	0	0	0
Writing Studies	0	0	0	0	0
General Family & Consumer Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	0	0	0	0	0
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	0	0	0	0	0
Health Sciences & Services	0	0	0	0	0
Gerontology	0	0	0	0	0
Multicultural & Diversity Studies	0	0	0	0	0
General Social Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	5,803	150	1,222	17	7,192

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 Justefrain under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.