Vanguard University of Southern California Overview

Vanguard University of Southern California is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Costa Mesa, California. The city atmosphere of Costa Mesa makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

What Is Vanguard University of Southern California Known For?

• The student loan default rate at Vanguard 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.
• Although it may not be available for every major, the post-master's certificate is the highest award a student can attain at Vanguard.
• For the 2017-2018 academic year, 100% of the faculty were full-time.
• After graduation, Vanguard bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $41,800 a year. That's about 2% more than their peers at other schools.
• On average, it takes about 4.2 years for students from Vanguard to earn a bachelor's degree. This is excellent when compared to the average of 4.4 years.

Vanguard University of Southern California 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.

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#59	Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#3	Best Pastoral Specialized Ministries Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#3	Best Sacred Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Undergraduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#9	Best Biblical Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#12	Best Education Undergraduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#12	Best Theology & Religious Vocations Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Theological & Ministerial Studies Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#17	Most Popular Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#17	Most Popular Pastoral Specialized Ministries Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#146	Most Popular Philosophy & Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#6	Best Sacred Music Schools	College Factual
#6	Best Religious/Sacred Music Schools	College Factual
#8	Best Pastoral Studies/Counseling Schools	College Factual
#9	Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Schools	College Factual
#29	Best Theology & Religious Vocations Schools	College Factual
#236	Best Nursing Schools	Nursing Degree Search

Where Is Vanguard University of Southern California?

Contact details for Vanguard are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	55 Fair Dr, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone:	714-556-3610
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/vanguarduniversity
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/vanguardu

How Do I Get Into Vanguard?

You can apply to Vanguard online at: https://www.vanguard.edu/admissions/undergraduate/how-to-apply

Admission Requirements for Vanguard

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

How Hard Is It To Get Into Vanguard?

Vanguard has a fairly low acceptance rate of 50%, which makes it more selective than most schools. Take time to make sure you submit all the requested materials and you prepare the application in full. You don't want to get denied right off the bat due to an incomplete application!

Approximately 28% of accepted students are men and 72% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 50%, and the acceptance rate for women is 50%.

Average Test Scores

About 89% of students accepted to Vanguard submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 480 and 580. Math scores were between 470 and 560.

Vanguard received ACT scores from 27% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 18 and 23.

Can I Afford Vanguard University of Southern California?

The overall average net price of Vanguard is $28,711. 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 Vanguard, approximately 94% of students took out student loans averaging $6,715 a year. That adds up to $26,860 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Vanguard is 4.0%. 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.

Vanguard University of Southern California Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 1,997 undergraduate students at Vanguard, with 1,770 being full-time and 227 being part-time.

There are also 292 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 1,770 full-time undergraduates at Vanguard, 32% are male and 68% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	83
Black or African American	91
Hispanic or Latino	843
White	603
International Students	4
Other Races/Ethnicities	146

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at Vanguard University of Southern California. At this time, 21 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 19 countries are represented at Vanguard. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Canada, China, and Philippines.

Online Learning at Vanguard University of Southern California

In 2019-2020, 2,289 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

This school is the 104th 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 Vanguard

The following table shows how Vanguard 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
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	#4	#4
Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries	#43	#43

Online Affordability Rankings of Vanguard Rankings

The following table shows how Vanguard 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
Teacher Education Grade Specific	#61	#61

Online Growth Rankings of Vanguard

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Vanguard University of Southern California was 631.5%. This is the #144 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at Vanguard regardless of major.

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

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Other Social Sciences	83%
Social Sciences	42%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Vanguard 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 Vanguard.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Social Sciences	#4
Teacher Education Grade Specific	#16
Education	#55

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%.

Vanguard University of Southern California Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Basic Certificate	Undergraduate Certificate	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
Nursing	0	0	75	0	25	100
General Psychology	0	0	67	0	0	67
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	0	0	18	35	53
Business Administration & Management	0	0	51	0	0	51
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	0	20	19	39
Communication & Media Studies	0	0	36	0	0	36
Sociology	0	0	30	0	0	30
Health & Physical Education	0	0	28	0	0	28
Religious Studies	0	0	21	0	0	21
General Biology	0	0	19	0	0	19
Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries	0	0	0	0	17	17
General English Literature	0	0	13	0	0	13
General Education	0	0	12	0	0	12
History	0	0	10	0	0	10
Music	0	0	10	0	0	10
Drama & Theater Arts	0	0	9	0	0	9
Marketing	0	0	8	0	0	8
Accounting	0	0	7	0	0	7
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	1	6	0	0	7
Other Social Sciences	6	0	0	0	0	6
Biblical Studies	0	0	5	0	0	5
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	0	4	0	0	4
Theological & Ministerial Studies	0	0	0	0	4	4
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	0	0	3	0	0	3
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	0	0	2	0	0	2
Sacred Music	0	0	2	0	0	2
Educational Administration	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mathematics	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chemistry	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	6	1	418	38	100	563

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

More about our data sources and methodologies.