4+ Year Colleges & Universities*
Los Angeles County

Enrollment, Degrees, Type, Year Founded

Beckman Institute at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Photo by Canon_vs_nikon, Wikimedia Commons.

Los Angeles County boasts seven of the nation's leading universities, according to the 2018 U.S. News National University Rankings:
- California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (ranked #10 & second in California only to #5 Stanford)
- University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles (tied #21)
- University of Southern California, Los Angeles (tied #21)
- Pepperdine University, Malibu (tied #46)
- Biola University, La Mirada (tied #159)
- University of La Verne, La Verne (tied #159)
- Azusa Pacific University, Azusa ranked (tied #187)

Also see:
Tuition for Four-Year Colleges & Universities in Los Angeles County
Community Colleges & Private 2-Year Colleges in Los Angeles County

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* Listed institutions as of 2016, except for Shepherd University, are accredited by a regional accreditation association, such as the Western Association of Schools & Colleges (WASC), or other similar body. Shepherd University is a Candidate for Accreditation as of December 2016.
N/A Information not available
Except where otherwise noted, enrollment numbers are for Fall 2016 from the National Center of Education Statistics
(2) Enrollment number from Peterson's
(3) Women’s College
(4) Formerly Phillips Graduate Institute
(5) Formerly Los Angeles Chiropractic College
(6) Establishment date for Los Angeles campus
(7) Private, for-profit institution

Touro College Los Angeles is the only regionally-accredited Orthodox Jewish college in the West Coast.

The California Graduate Institute merged with The Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2008. The California Graduate Institute was the first independent graduate school of psychology in the nation, founded in 1968.

Whittier College was founded in 1887 by members of the Society of Friends (Quakers).

The University of Southern California is a private research university of international distinction, and as such, the oldest in the Western United States. The university attracts students from all 50 states and 107 other countries.

California Institute of the Arts was founded in 1961 with the help of Walt and Roy Disney and Lulu May Von Hagen. It merged the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (founded 1883) and Chouinard Art Institute (founded 1921).

Cleveland Chiropractic College Los Angeles, founded in 1911, closed in 2011.

UCLA is the only campus among the nation's top 10 research universities that was established in the 20th century.

Aerial View of University of California Los Angeles Campus, 1933. Photo by Airscapes Program, U.S. War Department, courtesy of the National Archives.

UCLA is the largest (per enrollment) of the University of California Campuses.

USC has the second largest enrollment of foreign students in the nation.