About Calbright
Calbright is a public community college established by the state of California. In that sense, we’re a traditional institution: a public, non-profit college responsible to the state and residents of California for our conduct and results.
In every other way, Calbright is a new kind of college, offering an accessible, career-focused education to people for whom traditional college is not the best option.
Our Mission
Calbright College is committed to increasing economic mobility and closing equity gaps for working adults who lack easy access to traditional forms of higher education. The College offers online, flexible, affordable, skills-based programs that provide tangible economic value for both working adults and hiring managers.
What makes Calbright unique?
All classes are online.
We're the first exclusively-online member of the California Community College system — but online doesn't mean we're hands-off. You'll have access to all-star faculty, counselors, and coaches who are ready to help you level up your career and succeed at Calbright and beyond.
Skills-Based Education.
We measure success not by how much time you spend in a class, but whether you can demonstrate mastery of a specific, job-related skill. This method of teaching is sometimes called competency-based education (CBE). If you already have the skills you need to get our certificates, you can test right through our classes. If you’re still learning some of those skills, you can take as much time as you need to master them.
Free for Californians.
The State of California provides our budget, which means we're currently free to California residents over the age of 18. We make no money from our students, we charge no tuition, and we don’t need to know your credit card number. Californians over 18 who have a high school diploma or equivalent pay nothing to take our classes.
Programs that fit you.
Calbright's programs are flexible. While all of our programs are designed to be completed in under a year — and some people have completed them in as little as four months — you can set your own schedule and study as much or as little as you need, when it is convenient for you.
Accessible, quality education.
Calbright is designed around people for whom traditional higher education is not the best option. Whether it’s because of cost, scheduling, time commitment, or difficulty navigating bureaucracy, Calbright is designed to be easily accessed.
Supporting your success.
We offer direct and accessible student support services alongside our programs. You’ll have a dedicated team of people working to help you achieve your custom education plan goals: academic coaches to support your studies, and career coaches to help prepare you for success in a new job.
Our Programs
Our programs focus on modern business practices and the technology tools driving the digital economy. Students work with the same tech that workplaces use, gaining practical experience that translates directly into the workplace.
A Calbright education begins with you. We take the skills you have, add the technical training you need, get your resume in shape for the jobs you want, and help connect you to your new field.
Note: While Calbright programs are flexibly paced, enrollment agreements are limited in duration.
Students are enrolled in successive 6-month terms for a maximum program length of three years.
“The Californians we seek to reach cannot stop working to get the education they need to get ahead, and many of them juggle multiple jobs to feed their families. As much as we would like to, we cannot will them onto our campuses. We need to rethink traditional delivery models and pedagogies and meet this population where and when they are ready to gain skills and credentials.”
Who we serve
Calbright is designed to serve non-traditional students, and that’s reflected in our student body. Our exact numbers change on a regular basis because we have a constant stream of new enrollments — but the trend is clear: we serve students that other institutions have had trouble reaching in the past.
40%
of students are currently unemployed, 7% are working two or more jobs, and 31% are displaced workers.
80%
of students identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color
92.2%
of students are 25+ years old; the median age is late 30s.
32%
32% of students are parents or caregivers (compared to approximately 10% across the CA Community Colleges system)
Who We Are
Calbright’s faculty and staff are public employees who are all mission-driven: to be a public option for higher education, accessible to everyone. Our faculty work in the fields they teach and can offer up-to-the-minute lessons for students about the state of the industry and the skills they need.
We know the best way to make California prosperous is to open our economy to everyone. The more Californians that can access good jobs — and the more our businesses can fill those jobs — the better we all do together.
