Point Loma Nazarene University Overview

Point Loma Nazarene University is a private not-for-profit institution located in San Diego, California. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

What Is Point Loma Nazarene University Known For?

• Students at PLNU have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 2%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
• The highest award offered at PLNU is the doctor's degree.
• For the 2017-2018 academic year, 100% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from PLNU with a bachelor's degree make about $50,900 a year. That's 25% more than those who graduate from other schools.
• On average, it takes about 4.1 years for students from PLNU to earn a bachelor's degree. This is excellent when compared to the average of 4.4 years.

Point Loma Nazarene University Rankings

According to our 2022 analysis, PLNU is ranked #488 out of 2,587 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.

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.

PLNU has been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#63	Best Doctor’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 PLNU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#6	Best Special Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Value Health Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#19	Best Value Special Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#19	Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#32	Best Value Biological & Biomedical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#61	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#61	Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#68	Best Health Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#104	Best Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#126	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#18	Best General Education Schools	College Factual
#24	Best Special Education Schools	College Factual
#56	Best Education Schools	College Factual
#78	Best Nursing Schools	Nursing Degree Search
#95	Best Nursing Schools	College Factual
#218	Best Health Professions Schools	College Factual

Where Is Point Loma Nazarene University?

Contact details for PLNU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	3900 Lomaland Dr, San Diego, CA 92106-2899
Phone:	619-849-2200
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/Point-Loma-Nazarene-University/26060837166
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/plnu

How Do I Get Into PLNU?

You can apply to PLNU online at: www.pointloma.edu/UndergradAdmissions/ApplyNow.htm

Admission Requirements for PLNU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into PLNU?

With an acceptance rate of 84%, PLNU 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 33% of accepted students are men and 67% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 93%, and the acceptance rate for women is 80%.

Average Test Scores

About 72% of students accepted to PLNU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 560 and 650. Math scores were between 540 and 640.

PLNU received ACT scores from 44% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 23 and 30. Math scores were between 22 and 27. Composite scores were between 23 and 28.

Can I Afford Point Loma Nazarene University?

The overall average net price of PLNU is $38,335. 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 PLNU, approximately 57% of students took out student loans averaging $8,237 a year. That adds up to $32,948 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at PLNU 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.

Point Loma Nazarene University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 3,216 undergraduate students at PLNU, with 2,543 being full-time and 673 being part-time.

There are also 1,400 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,543 full-time undergraduates at PLNU, 34% are male and 66% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Point Loma Nazarene University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	171
Black or African American	39
Hispanic or Latino	573
White	1,457
International Students	20
Other Races/Ethnicities	283

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at Point Loma Nazarene University. At this time, 32 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 32 countries are represented at PLNU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Germany, and Canada.

Online Learning at Point Loma Nazarene University

There are 1 bachelor’s degree and 2 master’s degree programs available online at PLNU. In 2019-2020, 1,595 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

This school is the 85th 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 Growth Rankings of PLNU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Point Loma Nazarene University was 18.1%. This is the #1,121 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at PLNU regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of PLNU majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Business Administration & Management	25%
Business, Management & Marketing	10%
Health Professions	10%
Nursing	15%
Theological & Ministerial Studies	22%

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

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Theological & Ministerial Studies	#73
Theology & Religious Vocations	#116
Nursing	#486

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%.

Point Loma Nazarene 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	106	0	137	0	243
Nursing	164	2	22	8	196
General Education	0	0	174	0	174
Health & Physical Education	18	0	64	0	82
Human Development & Family Studies	67	0	0	0	67
Allied Health Professions	52	0	6	0	58
Criminal Justice & Corrections	55	0	0	0	55
General Psychology	54	0	0	0	54
General Biology	41	0	11	0	52
Teacher Education Grade Specific	52	0	0	0	52
Computer Information Systems	32	0	0	0	32
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	0	29	0	29
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	27	0	0	0	27
Finance & Financial Management	27	0	0	0	27
Special Education	0	0	26	0	26
Marketing	25	0	0	0	25
Accounting	21	0	0	0	21
Communication & Media Studies	18	0	0	0	18
Design & Applied Arts	18	0	0	0	18
Public Relations & Advertising	17	0	0	0	17
Journalism	13	0	0	0	13
General Visual & Performing Arts	12	0	0	0	12
Engineering Physics	11	0	0	0	11
History	11	0	0	0	11
Political Science & Government	10	0	0	0	10
Sociology	10	0	0	0	10
Computer Science	9	0	0	0	9
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	9	0	0	0	9
Social Work	9	0	0	0	9
Theological & Ministerial Studies	0	0	9	0	9
Religious Studies	8	0	0	0	8
Natural Resources Conservation	7	0	0	0	7
Economics	7	0	0	0	7
Music	6	0	0	0	6
Teacher Education Subject Specific	5	0	0	0	5
General English Literature	5	0	0	0	5
Romance Languages	5	0	0	0	5
International Studies	5	0	0	0	5
Chemistry	5	0	0	0	5
Business/Managerial Economics	4	0	0	0	4
Food, Nutrition & Related Services	4	0	0	0	4
Physics	4	0	0	0	4
Writing Studies	3	0	0	0	3
Mathematics	3	0	0	0	3
Philosophy	3	0	0	0	3
Management Information Systems	0	0	0	0	0
General Engineering	0	0	0	0	0
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	0	0	0	0
Data Science	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	962	2	478	8	1,450

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 OperaSmorg under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.