Originally Posted by
Doc Savage
You can stay in the airport if you like, no problem there. Plenty to see at LAX, you could walk around a bit, grab some food, and catch a nap.
Hotels nearby would likely be in the $75+ range near the airport.
Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
What exactly are the functions at your college starting at noon? If it's move in to the dorms day, any time after noon (within reason) would be fine, but if there is an organized orientation meeting for new foreign students, for instance, you want to be there for the entire program and fully functional, not terribly jet lagged, etc., so you should plan to arrive a day or two early.
Your planned LAX connection is too short and risks a misconnect. You should pick a later domestic connecting flight.
There's nothing scheduled for the day of arrival, but the following day there's an information session for international students. I did see another flight that gets there around 4:30PM and it has a longer layover. I could try and get that one.