2024-25 University Tuition

April 17, 2024

Dear LMU Students,

Choosing a university is a decision that involves a significant financial investment in your future and an act of faith in the institution's ability to shape the future. LMU understands the trust you have placed in us, and in accordance with our Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount mission, we seek to offer a unique, life-enriching experience that surpasses your expectations—one that is transformative and steeped in values that resonate with you and your families. Today, I share an update about our finances, an essential ingredient in making the LMU experience possible.

Our Budget as an Expression of Values

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said, "A budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations.” I believe we honor LMU’s values by prioritizing student financial aid and scholarships to make our education more accessible; by investing in the faculty and staff, who make your LMU experience possible; and by ensuring that our campuses, facilities, and services enable you to dream big and seek to accomplish what may initially seem impossible.

LMU is a nonprofit institution, and our revenue is based primarily on student tuition and fees. We also fund initiatives and operations through philanthropy and grants, and through other means such as conferences and events. Our primary expenditures include faculty and staff compensation, student financial aid, and operations. External factors also impact us, especially the persistent inflationary pressures that continue to impact the university’s healthcare costs, contractual obligations, and nearly every other facet of our expenditures. Careful financial stewardship and cost-containment measures have helped us to limit annual tuition increases. For a more complete picture of our budget, I invite you to review our audited financial statements, which we post publicly.

Tuition and Fees

Every dollar of your tuition and fees enables us to deliver on the LMU experience.

LMU’s Board of Trustees recently approved the 2024-25 budget and tuition. For the coming academic year, undergraduate tuition will be $60,970, marking an overall rate increase of 5.85%. Housing costs will increase by 5%, aligning with our efforts to enhance residential life. Please note: 90% of our undergraduate students receive some form of financial aid to help cover the cost of attending LMU. Our housing rates remain lower than many off-campus alternatives, which is one way we address housing affordability challenges in a broader Los Angeles regional market that has experienced higher increases.
Graduate tuition rates differ by program and will be updated on the LMU Student Accounts website in the summer.
We aim to maintain transparency and provide you with comprehensive information for your financial planning. Meal plan rates are available here, and parking rates will be updated here in June.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

By focusing fundraising on increasing our financial aid and scholarship funds, we aim to ensure that our LMU education remains within reach for you and future brightest minds, notwithstanding financial considerations.

As of March 2024, LMU has awarded over $159 million in grants and scholarships to students for the 2023-24 academic year, with $121 million allocated to undergraduates.
Separately, LMU has disbursed more than $12.7 million in federal and state grants to undergraduates and over $3.9 million in paid work-study awards to enrolled undergraduate and graduate students.
Our comprehensive campaign is making great progress toward our fundraising goal of $250M for student support, access, and success initiatives, which includes new and existing scholarships and financial aid. As of March 31, 2024, our campaign has raised more than $120M for scholarships, creating 231 new scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students.

Improving our Campuses, Learning Facilities, and Technology

We continue investing in our campuses and technology to ensure LMU remains the hub of your learning, creativity, and co-curricular activities.

Learning Space Upgrades: This summer, roughly 40 learning and event spaces will undergo significant audio/visual technology upgrades, including the creation of four new general-purpose classrooms in University Hall.
Innovation in Education: We are proud that LMU has been ranked among the top 60 in the US News and World Report’s “Most Innovative Schools.” Today, LMU launched an artificial intelligence website with tools, resources, and security best practices for using AI, including information about Microsoft Copilot, a robust, secure, and private generative AI tool we are making available to you.
Excellence in the Arts: The Strub Theatre is testament to our thriving arts community. With LMU Theatre Arts ranked No. 2 in the U.S., the recent renovation of Strub demonstrates our commitment to providing an unparalleled arts education.
Campus Beautification: Multiple sources rank LMU among the “Most Beautiful College Campuses” for good reason. This is the result of the awe-inspiring work of our Facilities Management colleagues, and we continue to invest in our campus (from new residence halls to everyday improvements such as drought-tolerant landscape design and other sustainability and climate change-related improvements) to ensure that LMU remains a visually inspiring environment conducive to learning and growth.

Supporting Our Faculty and Staff

Time and again, my conversations with you speak to your reverence for the high caliber of our faculty, our student development professionals, our campus ministers, and our staff. These persons are essential to your LMU experience because they define your LMU experience. Your successes are directly tied to their expertise, dedication, and guidance. With this in mind, next year’s budget has, as its top priority, the compensation of our full-time and part-time faculty and staff at all levels.

For several years, we have prioritized faculty and staff compensation in our budget. Beginning in 2016, we aligned faculty salaries with the market median, achieving this goal across nearly all our colleges and schools by 2022. With the support of our students, faculty, and staff, we raised the base compensation to at least $21 per hour for our lowest-paid colleagues, which we implemented in April 2023. Last fall, I announced a Multi-Year Compensation Initiative, reflecting our continuing commitment to attracting and retaining the exceptional talent that inspires and collaborates with you. This initiative aims to move full-time and part-time faculty and staff salaries toward the competitive range of the 75th percentile.

Strategic Plan: Inclusion, Innovation, and Impact

Our Strategic Plan is the path envisioned by our community, for our community, demonstrating our commitment to navigating the complexities of our rapidly evolving global society and helping to secure your future.

Our budget enables us to advance our plan’s priorities of Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Innovation and Adaptability; and Extending Our Reach Beyond the Bluff.
Initiatives such as "Teaching Toward Justice and Diversity" which weaves DEI principles into the fabric of our curriculum, and the creation of academic programs such as the Doctorate in Business Administration, enhanced support for STEM initiatives, and hiring grant analysts to bolster research opportunities and revenue, all expand our academic offerings and encourage interdisciplinary partnerships, solidifying LMU's stature as an exemplar of higher educational excellence.

Lions, you entrust us with a sacred responsibility, and we take that seriously. Together, we will continue to create a lasting impact on our community and beyond, honoring your sacrifices that make this experience possible. Thank you for being our partners. Thank you for igniting a brighter world.

With gratitude,

Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D.
President