Pacific Lutheran University Overview

Pacific Lutheran University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Tacoma, Washington. PLU is located in a safe and convenient suburb.

What Is Pacific Lutheran University Known For?

• The 2% student loan default rate at PLU is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at PLU.
• In 2017-2018, 71% of the faculty were full-time.
• After graduation, PLU bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $49,400 a year. That's about 21% more than their peers at other schools.
• On average, it takes about 4.2 years for students from PLU to earn a bachelor's degree. This is excellent when compared to the average of 4.4 years.

Pacific Lutheran University Rankings

We have ranked PLU as #418 out of 2,587 colleges and universities in the country in our 2022 Best Colleges list. It is also ranked #9 out of 58 schools in Washington.

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 PLU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#7	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#13	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#16	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#23	Best Social Work Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#38	Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#52	Best Computer Information Systems Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#69	Best Health & Physical Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#78	Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#79	Best Computer & Information Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#166	Most Popular Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#18	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Schools	College Factual
#20	Best Teaching Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#47	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Schools	College Factual
#55	Best Education Schools	College Factual
#70	Best Public Administration & Social Service Schools	College Factual
#136	Best Computer & Information Sciences Schools	College Factual

Where Is Pacific Lutheran University?

Contact details for PLU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	12180 Park Ave South, Tacoma, WA 98447-0003
Phone:	253-535-8145
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/Pacific.Lutheran.University
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/PLUNEWS

How Do I Get Into PLU?

You can apply to PLU online at: www.plu.edu/admission/first-year/

Admission Requirements for PLU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	considered but not required
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	neither required nor recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into PLU?

Since PLU has an acceptance rate of 86%, it is not too hard to gain acceptance into the school. Still, you need to be sure you complete your application in full and send in any other requested documents.

Approximately 36% of accepted students are men and 64% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 84%, and the acceptance rate for women is 87%.

Can I Afford Pacific Lutheran University?

The overall average net price of PLU is $34,271. 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

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At PLU, approximately 59% of students took out student loans averaging $7,307 a year. That adds up to $29,228 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at PLU is 2.4%. 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.

Pacific Lutheran University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,544 undergraduate students at PLU, with 2,486 being full-time and 58 being part-time.

There are also 363 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,486 full-time undergraduates at PLU, 36% are male and 64% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	265
Black or African American	91
Hispanic or Latino	344
White	1,406
International Students	36
Other Races/Ethnicities	344

Geographic Diversity

Washington students aren't the only ones who study at Pacific Lutheran University. At this time, 24 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 26 countries are represented at PLU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Norway, China, and Vietnam.

Online Learning at Pacific Lutheran University

In 2019-2020, 2,855 students took at least one online class at the school.

Pacific Lutheran University Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Basic Certificate	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Nursing	0	82	1	27	19	129
Business Administration & Management	0	97	0	30	0	127
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	23	0	49	0	72
Health & Physical Education	0	52	0	0	0	52
General Psychology	0	49	0	0	0	49
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	44	0	0	0	44
General Biology	0	43	0	0	0	43
Writing Studies	0	14	0	16	0	30
Chemistry	0	30	0	0	0	30
Political Science & Government	0	28	0	0	0	28
Sociology	0	28	0	0	0	28
Computer Information Systems	0	26	0	0	0	26
Communication & Media Studies	0	25	0	0	0	25
Music	0	22	0	0	0	22
Fine & Studio Arts	0	21	0	0	0	21
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	0	20	0	20
Romance Languages	0	19	0	0	0	19
Social Work	0	19	0	0	0	19
History	0	18	0	0	0	18
Mathematics	0	18	0	0	0	18
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	15	0	0	0	15
Geological & Earth Sciences	0	14	0	0	0	14
Drama & Theater Arts	0	13	0	0	0	13
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	0	0	0	12	0	12
Physics	0	11	0	0	0	11
General English Literature	0	10	0	0	0	10
Area Studies	0	10	0	0	0	10
Economics	0	10	0	0	0	10
Ethnic Studies	0	8	0	0	0	8
Applied Mathematics	0	0	0	8	0	8
Anthropology	0	8	0	0	0	8
Religious Studies	0	6	0	0	0	6
Germanic Languages	0	3	0	0	0	3
Philosophy	0	3	0	0	0	3
Classical Languages & Literature	0	2	0	0	0	2
Accounting	1	0	0	0	0	1
Entrepreneurial Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0
Educational Administration	0	0	0	0	0	0
General Education	0	0	0	0	0	0
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	0	0	0	0	0
International Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	1	771	1	162	19	954

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 Joe Mabel under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.