Let’s walk through that full picture, with the numbers that matter and without sugarcoating anything.
What kind of school it is, in a few words
Loyola Marymount is in Los Angeles, California, within Los Angeles County, in a principal city of 250,000 residents or more, within the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area. That does not mean the campus is right in the center of the city. If your child plans to live at home, do yourself a favor: drive the route on a weekday at the time of their classes. The actual time is almost never what the map says.
It is a private, nonprofit institution of four years or more. IPEDS—the federal system that reports these data—lists a doctorate as the highest degree it offers, and classifies it as a school that awards primarily bachelor’s degrees or higher, while also offering graduate education. That does not confirm that your child’s specific major exists or that it connects undergraduate and graduate study: that must be verified program by program.
The Carnegie classification, which organizes the country’s universities by what they do, places it among doctoral institutions with high research activity, and—with older data, from 2019-20—as a medium-sized, highly residential four-year school: at least half of undergraduate students lived in institution-provided housing and at least 80 out of every 100 studied full time. Living on campus is not the same as paying tuition; room and board are charged separately, and you will see them in the cost figures below.
One fact worth keeping if your child comes from another university: Carnegie also places it among institutions that receive many transfer students. That does not tell you how many credits they bring in or how many are lost in the transition. If that is your child’s path, ask in writing which courses will count before enrolling.
And one simple but necessary clarification: Loyola Marymount is not listed as a historically Black college or university, a tribal college or university, or a land-grant institution. Those are three distinct designations, with different histories, and not having them says nothing about which students the school serves today or how your child will feel there. Ask directly: which cultural centers and student organizations exist now.
A large community, with a clear Latino presence
Loyola Marymount reported 10,256 enrolled students in the most recent fall, a large school according to the federal government, in the 10,000 to 19,999 range. Compared with other 941 selective private four-year schools, it is among the largest: at most one out of every ten in that group has more students than it does.
But that total hides something important: it is divided into 7,336 undergraduate students and 2,920 graduate students. If your child is entering college, the number that matters to them is 7,336, not the total of 10,256.
Among those undergraduates, 24 out of every 100 students reported being Hispanic or Latino in the fall of 2023. They are not a majority, but neither are they rare: among the 941 comparable selective private schools that report this figure, that proportion places it in the top quarter. It is worth stating the limitation of this comparison: peers are grouped by school type, not by state, and California weighs heavily in that figure. The number also does not go down to the major level.
Undergraduate enrollment is nearly even between men and women—53 out of every 100 are women—and there are almost no adult students: only 2 out of every 100 are between 25 and 64 years old. Slightly more than half of incoming students, 55 out of every 100, came from California when they applied.
How the academic year works and which credits it recognizes
The year is organized by semesters: two long terms, about 15 weeks each. The institution reported accepting credit from AP exams and military training, but did not check the box for credit based on life experience. It also reported enrolling high school students in credit-bearing college courses through a formal dual-enrollment program.
Here is the part that truly matters for your wallet: saying they accept AP does not mean they award credit for every exam. It does not say what scores they require or whether those credits will count toward your child’s specific major. Ask for the equivalency evaluation in writing before enrolling. Do not budget for the savings until you have it in hand.
What students study there
Between July 2022 and June 2023, Loyola Marymount awarded 1,638 bachelor’s degrees, spread across 20 career families. The family awarding the most degrees was business and administration, with 27 out of every 100 degrees that year—no other field surpassed it, but it does not account for the whole share. Compared with 942 similar selective private schools, it is in the quarter awarding the most degrees per year.
Those 20 families are not 20 exact majors: a family groups several programs and may include rows with zero. If your child already knows what they want to study, verify the exact program in the current catalog, not in this count.
Regarding class size, all we have is an aggregate ratio: 11 students for each full-time-equivalent instructional staff member, a low figure compared with similar schools. It is a useful number, but it is not the actual size of a classroom. We do not know how the institution calculated it or the size of first-year classes.
What the school offers beyond the classroom
The institution reports study abroad, cocurricular undergraduate research, a complete program that can be taken only at night or on weekends, and teacher-preparation and certification pathways, including state approval for initial certification. These are reported opportunities, not a guarantee of access or available space: confirm them by name with the relevant department.
Getting in: what it requires and how selective it is
There is no open admission. Of the nine considerations IPEDS reviews, excluding standardized tests and legacy status, six are required: high school record, high school GPA, the course plan required by the university, personal essay, letters of recommendation, and an English-proficiency exam for those to whom it applies. Class rank and work experience are considered if you submit them, although they are not required. The published application fee is $60. It is a long application: start the essay in the summer, not the week of the deadline. The first draft is never the one you submit.
And yes, it is selective. In the 2023 cycle, 23,361 first-time applications arrived and 9,413 were accepted: 40 out of every 100. Compared with 942 similar selective private schools, it falls on the lower side—seven out of every ten in that group accepted a larger percentage. Thirteen thousand nine hundred forty-eight applicants did not receive an offer that year. This figure is for the whole school; if your child is applying to a particular major, ask admissions directly for the actual program-level probability.
Here is a number that surprises many families: out of every 100 admitted students, only 16 enrolled. The other 84 had a place and did not take it. Do not read that as a blemish—the federal record does not say why each person made their decision, and that proportion is among the most common at similar schools. What is worth remembering is this: what others decided does not tell you what they will offer you. Wait for your own letter with the net price before deciding whether this school stays on the list.
Regarding tests: the reported policy says that neither the SAT nor the ACT is considered in the admission decision, even if they are submitted. That does not cover scholarships or placement; ask separately.
And regarding transfers: in the fall of 2023, 417 undergraduate students arrived who were entering here for the first time after studying at another institution—among the highest figures at comparable schools, although that also reflects the school’s size. The transfer-out rate is not reported in this file. That does not show that no one transfers; only that this specific figure is not included here.
The list price and what each family actually pays
At Loyola Marymount University, among 87 first-time, full-time students seeking a credential who received federal Title IV aid and whose EFC records showed family income below $30,000, the average net price was $30,208. Among 60 students in the same population with family EFC income from $48,001 to $75,000, it was $32,869; among 446 students with family EFC income above $110,000, it was $53,926. For dependent students, the band adds their parents’ income and their own.
Between the average for the lowest-income band (87 students) and the average for the highest-income band (446 students), there is a difference of $23,718. These are group averages, not a prediction of your family’s price. Among first-year students who received any scholarship, the average was $54,471.
Among the 937 schools of the same type and control included in this census that reported this figure with the same time coverage, this one falls in the most expensive quarter for lower-income families. That does not mean it should be ruled out. It means you should request the aid letter before deciding.
Because the price changes so much from one income band to another, correctly identifying yours comes first. The income bands in this profile describe first-time, full-time students seeking a credential who received federal Title IV aid; at public institutions, they use the in-state or district rate. The overall average with a scholarship, when it appears, describes first-time, full-time students seeking a credential who received federal, state, local, or institutional scholarships or grants. What controls is the aid letter you receive.
The aid it distributes and the loans that are signed
Out of every 100 students seeking a degree here, 88 received some scholarship or aid that does not have to be repaid, averaging $23,393 among those who received it. It is an average: it includes people who received much more and people who received much less. The Pell Grant, reserved for low-income families, reached only 13 out of every 100 students. That means most of that aid came from another source—from the school itself, the state, or elsewhere—and the report does not distinguish which. Ask directly who awards the scholarship, who qualifies, and what is needed to renew it each year.
Regarding loans: 30 out of every 100 undergraduate students received a federal loan in the 2022-23 academic year, averaging $6,219 among those who borrowed. Compared with similar schools, it is on the low side in the proportion of students with loans. That average is for one year only and only for federal loans in the student’s name: it does not include Parent PLUS loans signed by parents, bank debt, or the total debt with which someone graduates. That percentage describes other families, not yours. What your child would need to borrow comes from their own financial-aid letter—wait for it before committing to the school.
The institution also reports a tuition installment payment plan as a cost-management option.
Living there, getting around there, and what surrounds academic life
Loyola Marymount has institution-owned housing, but does not require all full-time first-time students to live in it—that does not mean no program has that requirement. The reported capacity of institution-controlled housing is 3,685 students. It also offers meal plans, with the number of meals varying according to the selected plan. Having housing does not guarantee an available bed: ask in writing for the year’s rate, the deadline, and whether a space is guaranteed or you go on a waiting list.
There is ROTC, with Air Force as the only branch confirmed in writing in the report; Army and Navy are not marked. Not confirmed is not the same as impossible—ask directly if your child is interested in another branch.
It competes in intercollegiate athletics and is affiliated with the NCAA. The institution reports membership for basketball, baseball, and cross country or track and field. That is institutional affiliation, not a promise of a place on the team: if the sport matters, write directly to the coach and ask about roster space, division, and scholarships.
It offers distance education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, although in the fall count fewer than 1 out of every 100 undergraduate students took their entire course load that way. The school reports offering at least one complete distance program, without specifying at which level: confirm it by major.
The library operates with employed staff and spending above the threshold recorded by the government, with physical and digital collections and interlibrary loan. And in general supports, the institution reports combined academic and career counseling, employment services, on-campus child care, participation in the Yellow Ribbon program, a point of contact for veterans and military members, a student veterans organization, and a services page for people with disabilities. Reporting a service is not the same as measuring its quality: ask about it by name before building your child’s plan around it.
Students stay, and most finish
Here we reach something that gives many families peace of mind, with the clear limitation placed alongside it.
Of the cohort that entered in the fall of 2022 seeking a bachelor’s degree, full time, for the first time—1,607 students—88 out of every 100 were still enrolled here or had already completed a bachelor’s degree one year later. Compared with 930 similar schools, that proportion is near the top. It is a high result, but it combines two different groups—those who remain and those who have already graduated—without separating them, and it does not say what happened to the rest.
Of the cohort that entered in 2017, 1,444 full-time, first-time students, six years later 1,152 had their degree in hand: 80 out of every 100. At four years, that figure was 71 out of every 100. Compared with 920 similar schools, Loyola Marymount is in the top quarter for six-year graduation.
And over a longer period: following an annual cohort of 1,886 students who entered between July 2015 and June 2016—first-time and previously enrolled, full time and part time—as of August 2023, 80 out of every 100 had earned a degree or certificate from here. Among those who received a Pell Grant, the figure was 78 out of every 100, only 2 points apart. Compared with similar schools, it is also in the top quarter.
A high number is not a promise for your child. It describes what happened to an earlier cohort, with its own history and circumstances. What is in your hands is making sure they enter with their credits in order, know who their adviser is from the first semester, and that you learn together when courses in their major are scheduled.
How to put all of this in context
You now know in detail one of the pieces you need to decide: what kind of university Loyola Marymount is, how selective it is, what it costs on paper, how much that actual cost varies by family income, and what happened to the cohorts that entered before your child’s.
What this piece cannot tell you—because no institutional data should tell you—is what your child wants to study, how far from home they are willing to live, or how much your family can and wants to pay per year. That combination belongs to you, your child, and the conversation you have together, with the admission letter and financial-aid letter already on the table, not before.
Your child needs to research the program, write the essay, request recommendation letters on time, and decide how interested they are in this place. You need to read the full details of the cost, ask the questions this piece has left open, and support them while they decide. Neither of you has to do it alone.
Source note: The information in this article comes from data reported by Loyola Marymount University to IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) of the United States Department of Education, mainly from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 cycles, except where a different period is indicated. Best College Aid does not represent Loyola Marymount University or the United States government, and this piece does not replace the official information the university can provide to you directly.