The numbers are in from the annual America’s College Financial Grades by Forbes magazine, and La Sierra University’s report card shows strong institutional financial health, outpacing many others on a list of more than 900 schools around the nation, including its peer institutions.

On May 22, 2026, Forbes published its annual financial grades which assesses the fiscal fitness of more than 900 private, not-for-profit higher education institutions with enrollments greater than 500 full-time students. Of the 11 Seventh-day Adventist universities and colleges in the North American Division and graded by Forbes, La Sierra University's financial grade of B+ tops the list. (Loma Linda University and Burman University in Canada, which are also part of the North American Division’s higher education system, were not included in the Forbes report.)

Additionally, out of 53 California schools graded, La Sierra University scored higher than the University of Southern California, Biola University, University of Redlands, Point Loma Nazarene, and California Baptist University among many others. La Sierra University is among only three schools in California that landed a grade of B+.

Forbes’ summary of the results further highlights the significance of La Sierra University’s financial standing — the media company indicates that nearly half of the colleges graded for the 2026 list scored a C or lower with 27 percent of schools landing the lowest grade of D. 

La Sierra University scored a B+ grade and a 3.32 GPA. Forbes uses 10 measures to determine a school’s grade point average on financial soundness. Data is pulled from the Department of Education’s National Center for Educational Statistics and consulting firm Perspective Data Science. Forbes notes that for this year’s report, its methodology includes data from Perspective Data Science, which focuses on schools’ true liquidity, or the ability of an institution to convert assets into cash quickly without incurring a drop in the asset’s market value. 

The report card arrives during a particularly challenging season in higher education, which education leaders frequently describe and address through a four-element lens of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VCUA). In a newsletter capping the school year, La Sierra University president Christon Arthur invoked the current VUCA environment as a backdrop for the significance of La Sierra University's substantive financial grade in Forbes. 

“Enrollment pressures, shifting federal funding, and declining public confidence in the sector are reshaping the landscape around us. Yet amid these challenges, La Sierra is not merely surviving. We are deeply rooted and rising,” Arthur writes, citing the university’s financial grade as a milestone to be celebrated.

“The best of La Sierra University is still ahead of us,” he said. “We welcome all to our table as we travel this journey of transformation and growth, continuously in pursuit of our mission to change lives through the pursuit of truth, service to others, and the knowledge of God.”’

The original article was published on the North American Division news site.