Six ocean-side courts plus San Diego's biggest tennis center two miles away. Also the most expensive, with the worst food reviews and three years locked on campus.
| Sticker (tuition, fees, room, board) | $66,010 |
|---|---|
| Automatic merit at 4.0 / 1470 | $24,000 President's Gold Confirmed |
| Need-based aid at $300k | $0 |
| Net per year | ~$42,000 |
| Four years | ~$168k |
Confirmed top tier. Point Loma publishes a six-tier grid requiring any 2 of 3 criteria. Your 4.0 unweighted clears the 3.95 threshold and your 1470 clears the 1430 threshold, so you hit President's Gold, the highest tier, with room to spare.
| Tier | Amount | Needs any 2 of 3 |
|---|---|---|
| President's Gold | $24,000 | UW GPA 3.95+ · W GPA 4.40+ · SAT 1430+ |
| President's Green | $21,000 | 3.90+ · 4.25+ · SAT 1400+ |
| Trustee's | $18,000 | 3.85+ · 4.00+ · SAT 1370+ |
| Provost's | $16,000 | 3.80+ · 3.90+ · SAT 1340+ |
| Dean's | $14,000 | 3.50+ · 3.75+ · SAT 1280+ |
| Bresee | $12,000 | 3.25+ · 3.55+ · SAT 1180+ |
Awarded automatically off application materials, no separate form. Guaranteed for the first four consecutive standard semesters.
What this covers: tuition, mandatory fees, housing and the meal plan. It does not cover books, transportation or personal spending, which add roughly $5,000 to $8,000 a year. Full breakdown.
Small but free money given your background: if your home Nazarene church sends Point Loma a check of up to $250, the school matches up to $250 and adds a district grant. If your church does not participate, the pastor can still request district funds in writing on church letterhead.
6 courts on campus sitting directly above the Pacific. Tennis intramurals meet there and the courts are open for free play during open gym hours. 3900 Lomaland Drive, San Diego
Varsity men's tennis competes in NCAA D2, PacWest, playing 20 to 25 events a year across dual meets and ITA tournaments.
Same as Biola. D2 at UTR 6.7 is a stretch, your realistic tier is D3 or NAIA, and Point Loma roster UTR levels are unverified. Unverified Court access is certain. A roster spot is not.
Three separate ways to play.
A coed competitive travel team "dedicated to faith, competitiveness, and camaraderie". Practices every Saturday and plays a competitive league at Liberty Station on Sundays through fall and spring.
Opponents include SoCal schools such as UCSD, USD, Cal State Fullerton and Cal Poly Pomona.
Tryout or open: not stated publicly. Unverified The existence of a separate lower-commitment club alongside it suggests the competitive team may be selective while the club is open, but Point Loma does not say so. No contact or handle is published, signups route through the myPLNU portal behind a student login.
Explicitly for students who want to play without the time constraints of an intramural team.
Part of the on-campus league slate each semester, with a dedicated ultimate league director (Nathan Shoup).
This is the only campus of the three where ultimate is a real competitive outlet rather than a pickup game.
You said ultimate is a for-fun club thing, which makes the Loman Empire over-spec for what you want rather than an advantage you would use. Saturday practices and a Sunday travel league is a commitment, not a pickup game.
The lower-commitment club and the intramural league are the tiers that actually match, and all three schools cover that level fine. So ultimate should not carry much weight in choosing between them.
USA Ultimate registration, college series division (D-I or D-III), and conference and region placement could not be verified for any of the three schools from public sources. Unverified USAU college series rosters are not readily searchable and none of the schools publishes it. Everything above comes from school and club sources, so treat it as descriptive rather than as verified USAU standing.
The infrastructure is genuinely good. Dining is run by Sodexo out of the recently renovated Nicholson Dining Commons, plus Point Break for specialty sandwiches, burgers, salads and sides all day.
Nobody could confirm whether the Grown station leans whole-food (vegetables, grains and legumes assembled to order) or processed plant-based substitutes (fake meats, patties). Unverified
The "customizable bowls" framing suggests build-your-own from components, which would favor whole foods, but Point Loma does not publish the station's ingredient list, so it is not asserted either way here. This is a five minute question to answer in person and it materially affects where Point Loma ranks for you.
The student paper, The Point, has run repeated complaints that food quality and variety are lacking.
The honest read for a particular eater: the sourcing story and the plant-forward station are real advantages over Biola, but students who eat there daily are the least satisfied of any school on this list. This is the one to test in person at the campus visit rather than judge from a distance.
Meal plan is 240 meals per semester plus $100 dining dollars, changed from the old 15-swipes-per-week structure. The per-semester structure is more flexible for someone who cooks or eats off campus some days.
Off campus, and this is a genuine strength: Trader Joe's at 2401 Truxtun Rd in Liberty Station, roughly two miles, and Sprouts Farmers Market in Point Loma. Both are close, and Liberty Station is the same place the ultimate league plays.
Freshman halls are Hendricks and Nease.
The campus setting is the best of the three: cliffs over the ocean, with courts and dorm lounges that have real Pacific views.
Point Loma requires freshmen, sophomores AND juniors to live on campus. Three full years, with limited exceptions. That is a cost driver, a lifestyle limit, and it means three years on the meal plan students complain about most.
Unverified, check on the visit: whether residence halls have kitchen access, and whether the junior-year live-on rule has exceptions you would qualify for. Unverified
Early Action closes November 15, the earliest deadline on your whole list. Full timeline on the apply page.
Who writes the academic reference for a homeschooler whose teacher is his mother? Unverified Point Loma does not publish guidance, and most schools will not accept a parent for the academic letter.
Possible answers are a co-op instructor, a dual-enrollment professor, or an exception from admissions. This is the kind of thing that quietly kills an application if it surfaces in November.
Point Loma has capped enrollment, so the cycle genuinely gets more competitive later. Applying November 15 is a real advantage here, not a formality.
The strongest tennis fallback if Biola does not work out. Six free ocean-side courts plus the biggest tennis center in San Diego two miles away. The competitive ultimate team is a nice extra rather than a reason to choose it, since casual play is your bar and all three cover that.
The costs are real: the most expensive of the three at ~$42k a year, the worst student food reviews, and three years locked on campus. It is also your denomination and the best physical setting on the list.