The University of La Verne (ULV) is a private, independent liberal arts university founded in 1891 by members of the Church of the Brethren and located in La Verne, California — a suburb of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley, roughly 35 miles east of downtown LA. Today La Verne enrolls approximately 8,000 students across undergraduate, graduate, law, and regional-campus programs, and is a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution with Hispanic/Latino students making up roughly 59% of its student body — one of the highest proportions at any private university in California. La Verne's academic identity is organized around five colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences (40+ majors), the College of Business (AACSB-accredited), the LaFetra College of Education, the College of Health and Community Well-Being, and the College of Law and Public Service (housing the ABA-accredited La Verne Law). The university emphasizes personalized, relationship-driven teaching with a student-faculty ratio around 12:1 and small seminar-style classes. Nationally, La Verne is best known for producing the highest numbers of Hispanic education, business, psychology, and pre-health graduates among small California private universities, and for consistently strong graduate outcomes reported by US News Social Mobility rankings. Signature programs include business administration, psychology, exercise science & kinesiology, criminology, education, and computer science. For international students, La Verne's proposition combines affordability for a private California university, competitive automatic merit scholarships for qualified international undergraduates, and a Southern California location 35 miles from downtown LA and 50 miles from the Pacific. The Office of International Services and Study Abroad handles F-1/J-1 issuance, CPT/OPT/STEM-OPT advising, and SEVIS reporting; cultural integration is supported by the Latino/Hispanic-majority campus culture, an annual International Educational Festival, and La Verne's long tradition of community service grounded in its Church of the Brethren heritage of peace, compassion, and inclusion.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceThe deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$49,470 – $49,490
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
La Verne's largest college with 40+ undergraduate majors spanning humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and fine/performing arts. Hosts the university's signature Performance Scholarships and the General Education La Verne Experience.
AACSB-accredited business school offering undergraduate, MBA, and Master of Science programs. Strong in accounting, finance, international business, and management — with a Southern California professional network.
Specializing in teacher preparation, educational leadership, counseling, and child development. Produces the largest number of Hispanic teacher graduates among private California universities.
Prepares health professionals in exercise science, kinesiology, athletic training, public health, and clinical psychology (PsyD).
Houses the ABA-accredited La Verne Law (JD), public administration, and social work programs. La Verne Law is known for access-focused legal education.
4 years
La Verne's most-awarded undergraduate major; AACSB-accredited; internship pipelines across the San Gabriel Valley, LA metro, and Inland Empire logistics and financial services sectors.
4 years
STEM-CIP-designated CS degree offering 24-month OPT extension to eligible international graduates. Curriculum emphasizes software engineering and applied computing for Southern California's tech corridor.
4 years
Popular pre-health track with strong placement into physical therapy, athletic training, and allied health graduate programs. STEM-adjacent curriculum with applied lab experiences.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $49,470
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
