La Salle University

Private · Moderately Selective · PA

Photo: Edward J. Picardy (Public domain)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationPA · Northeast

SettingUrban

Undergrads1,953

Student:faculty12:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate50.5%

6-yr grad rate57.1%

Drop-out rate26.1%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$38k

Out-of-state tuition$38k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity65.6%

Gender diversity65.5%

International5.6%

IdentityRoman Catholic

Overview

La Salle University is a Catholic university in Philadelphia in the Lasallian teaching tradition founded by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, with deep, long-standing ties to the city's first-generation and working-class communities.

Academics

Business, nursing, and education are La Salle's most established programs, reflecting its historic mission of preparing students for direct professional entry, and the Lasallian emphasis on practical, student-centered teaching shows up in accessible faculty and applied coursework. Pre-health and criminal justice programs also draw meaningfully sized cohorts.

Campus & student life

The campus sits in a residential section of North Philadelphia, giving students city access alongside a defined, gated campus feel. La Salle's Big 5 basketball history, as one of five historic Philadelphia-area programs that once played each other annually, remains a real point of institutional pride even as the program's national visibility has faded from its mid-20th-century peak.

Getting in

Admissions is holistic and access-oriented, consistent with the Lasallian mission of serving first-generation students, and fit with the university's Catholic, service-oriented identity can matter alongside academic record.

After graduation

Philadelphia's hospital systems and financial and professional-services firms hire heavily out of La Salle's nursing and business programs, and the alumni network is concentrated in the greater Philadelphia region.

Worth knowing

The Lasallian mission, a specific Catholic teaching-order tradition distinct from Jesuit or diocesan Catholic identity, shows up concretely in La Salle's commitment to first-generation and access-oriented admissions, not just as a historical footnote.

lasalle.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate96.6%

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot used

Rec letters1

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying