Please scroll down for links to the State of California http://www.assist.org website

Alphabetical List of Private Colleges & Universities in CA

Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities

• Alliant International University
• American Academy of Dramatic Art
• American Jewish University
• Antioch University Los Angeles
• Art Center College of Design
• Azusa Pacific University
• Biola University
• California Baptist University
• California College of the Arts
• California Institute of Technology
• California Institute of the Arts
• California Lutheran University
• Chapman University
• Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science
• Claremont Graduate University
• Claremont McKenna College
• Cogswell Polytechnical College
• Concordia University
• Dominican University of California
• Fielding Graduate University
• Fresno Pacific University
• Golden Gate University
• Harvey Mudd College
• Holy Names University
• Hope International University
• Humphreys College
• Keck Graduate Institute
• Laguna College of Art & Design
• La Sierra University
• Loma Linda University
• Loyola Marymount University
• Marymount College
• The Master's College
• Menlo College
• Mills College
• Mount St. Mary's College
• National University
• Notre Dame de Namur University
• Occidental College
• Otis College of Art and Design
• Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
• Pacific Oaks College
• Pacific Union College
• Patten University
• Pepperdine University
• Phillips Graduate Institute
• Pitzer College
• Point Loma Nazarene University
• Pomona College
• Saint Mary's College of California
• Samuel Merritt University
• San Diego Christian College
• San Francisco Conservatory of Music
• Santa Clara University
• Saybrook Graduate School & Research Center
• Scripps College
• Simpson University
• Soka University of America
• Southern California University of Health Sciences 
• Stanford University
• Thomas Aquinas College
• Touro University
• University of La Verne
• University of Redlands
• University of San Diego
• University of San Francisco
• University of Southern California
• University of the Pacific
• Vanguard University of Southern California
• Western University of Health Sciences
• Westmont College
• Whittier College
• William Jessup University
• Woodbury University

International Affiliates:

• Universidad Anhuac de Xalapa
• Universidad Anhuac Mexico Sur
• Universidad del Mayab
• Universidad Politecnica de Aguascalientes

California Community College Campuses and System Link

University of California Campuses and System Links

California State University Campuses and System Links

The three links above go to web sites for the system offices overseeing the California Community Colleges, California State Universities, and University of California campuses. These sites provide a variety of information of value to students, such as campus locations, links to campus web sites, admissions requirements, fees, frequently asked questions, etc. The sites also provide information for faculty and staff, and anyone interested in the activities and opportunities at these public institutions.

The CaliforniaColleges.edu
This web site provides information to help students plan their academic future, such as information about career choices, admissions requirements, financial aid, and choosing the right college or university for a student's academic goals.

High School A-G Lists
To satisfy the California State University and University of California Subject Requirement for admission, prospective freshmen must complete a series of high school courses known as the "a-g" requirements. This site explains these requirements and displays high school courses for individual schools that satisfy university admissions requirements.

UC Admissions
This University of California web site provides students with all the information needed to prepare for attending and succeeding at a University of California campus. It provides links to UC campus websites and includes information about applying to the University of California, transferring to the UC, admissions, housing, financial aid,and email links for contacting individual UC campuses.

UCTransfer.org
This Web site explains what you'll need to do to transfer to the University of California and how you can make smart course choices now that will maximize your chances of being admitted to UC.

CSU Mentor
CSU Mentor is an online resource designed to help students and their families learn about the California State University system, select aCSU campus, plan to finance higher education, and apply for admission.CSU Mentor is a valuable tool in choosing a CSU campus, planning to meet admissions requirements, and getting answers to frequently asked questions.

California Virtual Campus
The California Virtual Campus links you to online courses offered by California's colleges and universities.

CAN (California Articulation Number System)
The California Articulation Number System (CAN) is a course identification system for common core, lower-division, transferable,major preparation courses taught on CCC and CSU campuses. More information is available on their site.

CPEC (California Postsecondary Education Commission)
The California Post-secondary Education Commission web site provides information about financial aid, admissions requirements, application deadlines, and fees and tuition for California colleges and universities.

GPA - How It Helps In College Admissions

There's really nothing more important in your college application than the strength of your academics. Unlike essays and the SATs which can be polished in several weeks, the transcript is a culmination of four years of academic work you did in high school. There's little you can do to change your academic record. That is why admissions officers will always turn to the transcript before anything else. After all, to get an idea of how you will perform next time in college, it's only logical to assess how you've been performing so far.

What courses you take in high school and what grades you get will determine where you end up in September. When colleges look at your folder, the first thing they will see is your transcript. "Has this student challenged herself?" "Are his grades showing an upward trend, declining, or stagnant?" Challenged means taking the toughest courses you can handle.

Please bear in mind that when while you are encouraged to go for the most demanding schedule, you must be able to do well. No point taking the toughest courses if it eats into your social and extra curricular activities. Admissions officers can see that you're trying too hard, and it may instead work against your favor in the college admissions process.

"Is it better to get a B in the Advanced Placement class or an A in the regular class?"

Not surprisingly, this question gets asked a lot of times. Of course, the best thing would be to get an A in the AP class. But seriously, admissions officers would rather you get a B in the AP class. AP classes are much tougher than regular ones, and getting a B - despite the grade itself - shows that you can handle tough workloads.

Just think about it, if A was so important, then every student would try to pad his and her transcript with courses like Getting Slim for the 21st Century just so they could fatten their GPA. That is why grades alone are not enough.

An important thing to note here is that while colleges consider grades, they also consider your performance relative to your classmates. That is where class rank comes in. Class ranks help colleges determine whether the C you got in Calculus is a result of slacking on your part, or a really strict marking system. If your school does not rank, don't despair. Colleges are adept enough at coming up with a ranking for you based on your school profile and academic trend in your school report.

For example, my school does not rank. But my guidance counselor was able to predict my rank as if there was a ranking system, by looking at the performance of my peers in my class that year. So she will write something like "Top 5% of the class this year" for her students. Even if your school policy forbids ranking - as mine do - your transcript can still tell a great deal about what kind of challenges you went through in high school.

Know Your Goals

You academic preparation should also reflect your goals. What kind of school do you want to go to? If you are eyeing for highly selective colleges, then you should take as many AP classes as you can; again, without harming your grades or extra curricular activities.

At the Ivy Leagues and its cousins, you'd probably need all the As you can get from AP classes to have a shot. These academic behemoths are so competitive that a B might (read: I said might because it will still ultimately depend on your overall application strength) not work in your favor.

On the other hand, large state universities use a different rule. These schools attract tens of thousands of applications each year and so they often rely on grades and test scores to make decisions. Here GPA would be more important than the level of courses. In other words, how tough your course selection is isn't necessary, as long as they are college preparatory.

"What if my school does not offer AP courses?"

Don't fret. Designing the curriculum is the responsibility of your school; your job is to take the most challenging ones available. If your school doesn't offer AP English, and every senior takes regular English classes, then yes, that is the most rigorous one. If you come from a really competitive high school, you will be evaluated based on the school's curriculum. Even if you rank near the bottom, there are some schools who will love to take you in since you come from a ‘strong' school.

But if your high school isn't so tough, then it may be more important for you to rank near the top.

A really good way to stand out in a selective pool is to go beyond what your school has to offer. This means doing things that are otherwise not offered in your school. If you've studied all the physics courses in school, try taking up advanced courses at a local college. If you love maths and finished calculus in junior year, work with a professor to do research into multi-variable equations. These actions show ad-coms that you are intellectually curious and always ready to learn new things - a plus point in the admissions process.

Devin is a college applicant who has researched the complexity of the college admissions process for two years. His acceptances include the honors program at the Univ. of Michigan and Cambridge University in the UK. He runs an admissions website at http://www.admissions-guide.info dedicated to helping students in the college admissions process.

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Your Educational Budget and Federal Loans

The educational budget, also called the student budget, holds about the same level of importance as the EFC. Think about all the things that you will need financially during the school year. Colleges take the sum of those things, and lump them together as your educational budget. Schools take your student budget, and subtract your EFC to determine the amount of financial aid you will be awarded. So, its obviously something you should be very familiar with.

Now, you've probably already guessed that a student budget has to include your tuition and room and board. But, did you know that there is a number calculated for those students who are not living on campus? The amount will differ based on your living situation. For example, are you living on your own, or do you intend to live with your parents while you go to school? Or, do you plan to live on campus?

There are four main sections which comprise the student budget. The first is tuition. Then comes living expenses, transportation, and finally personal expenses. One piece that could be included under the subtitle of tuition is the cost of your books and fees. Its impossible to predict the exact amount your books will cost. After all, you might be the one taking Biochemistry while someone else is taking a course in composition. Your books will most likely be more expensive. So, to make things even, an average cost of books is added into the student budget. Do not worry, you'll probably be the one taking creative writing next year, while your friend is struggling through statistics! Other fees could include your student body card, the yearbook, or your application fee.

We've briefly discussed room and board, or living expenses, but here are a few more examples. How about your home or renters insurance, your phone bill, the internet bill, and your utilities? An educational budget has to take all of these things into consideration. After all, you do have to survive outside of your classes, and its very possible that your classes could prevent you from working a full, or part-time job.

Transportation should be self-explanatory, but if its not, let me briefly touch on its importance. The amount of transportation is certainly going to differ if you are a student who lives on-campus. But what if you are not? Will you be taking the bus, or driving your car? And, if you are driving your car, how will you pay for gas, car insurance, and car maintenance? For those students who have traveled long distances, there is the concern about flights home at different times throughout the year. These are all issues which would fall under the category of transportation.

Finally, we have the personal section. You may think we've covered everything, but for both the on-campus and off-campus student, there are other things to consider. Under personal, we would be looking at your recreation time, your health insurance, childcare if applicable, life insurance, laundry, and clothing.

Professor Now.com offers free educational courses in an easy to follow format in various subjects. To view a free online course covering the subject of this article, please visit ProfessorNow.com.

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Top Academic Strategies for College & University Admission

Copyright (c) 2008 Karen Bolton

With the rising cost of college, it is important to utilize as many cost cutting strategies as possible. Let's explore some top academic and admission strategies to help reduce the cost of college.

1.Career Planning

Career planning is often overlooked during the college planning process.However, this is one of the most important decisions that students will make. Without proper career planning, many students take 5-6 years to complete a degree. Many students receive degrees in declining growth fields or fields with a surplus of applicants and cannot find employment after graduation.

However, this can play a critical role in reducing the overall cost of college. A contributing factor in the college dropout and transfer rates is a lack of career planning anda failure to make college decisions based on career goals. Research by the US Dept of Education and American College Testing show that eachyear, approximately 50% of college freshman leave the college in which they first enrolled. Of the dropouts, about 30% transfer to other colleges at least once, and 20% transfer twice and typically take 6 or more years to complete a 4-year program.

Students who receive career planning prior to college selection and attendance have few major changes and college transfers, graduate on time, and tend to be more goal- and academic-focused. You may want to check out web-based career planning services at www.careerdimension.com and www.myroad.com.

2. Use Smart Admission Strategies

Apply where the student is academically above the incoming freshman class profile. Private colleges place a premium on good students and will often use tuition discounts to attract them to their campuses.

Apply for admission early. The student should submit an application to the college as soon as possible in the senior year of high school(September through December). After a college begins to fill the upcoming year's freshman class, the need for the college to offer a tuition discount diminishes. Colleges need to complete their enrollment quotas as early as possible, so they often offer scholarships (tuition discounts) to the students who apply early (even students who do not qualify for need-based aid).

Apply to schools that have a low enrollment yield factor. The lower a college's enrollment yield (yield percentage), the higher the probability of the student receiving tuition discounts. The enrollment yield is calculated by dividing the number of students enrolled by the number of students admitted.Enrollment is key to a college's survival. Many colleges select students for admission to their school, only to have them enroll in another school. The colleges have a constant battle to fill seats every year (lesser-known private colleges are even more challenged because they must compete with the low cost of public universities and the popularity of the elite private schools).

The student should also apply to private colleges. Many private colleges have declining enrollments due to their high cost and competition from low-cost universities and popular elite private colleges. These colleges often give a tuition discount to students to fill empty seats at the college.Private colleges must compete with less-expensive, state-subsidized public universities.

Many private colleges offer incredible financial award packages to attract good students. Plus they offer smaller class sizes, which increase the student's chance of attaining a degree in four years. Be sure to include a few private colleges in your selection process. You might be surprised with the outcome.

The student should apply to six to eight colleges. Do not limit your ability to negotiate the price of college. Apply to several colleges to maximize your financial opportunities. By applying to several colleges,the student is given the opportunity to receive a tuition discount from one college and use that discount to ask for a comparative discount, orbetter, from the college the student prefers to attend. Try to pick at least several schools where your child lies in the top 25% of theincoming freshman class. This strategy is more applicable to students attending private colleges.

If the student is planning to attend a private college, the student should create competition between colleges. The following types of colleges will create competition for your child:

A college in the same athletic conference

The student should apply to colleges that are competitive in the same area or location, athletic conference, or intellectual fields. The most competition often occurs between colleges that are in the same athletic conference.

An in-state public university

Even though your plan to go to a private college, always apply to a good in-state public university. The public university's low cost may force the private college to offer a tuition discount to make its cost competitive with the public university's cost. Low-cost public universities are theprivate colleges' main competition.

A similar college outside of the student's region of residency

Thestudent should apply to similar private colleges that are located outside of the student's region of residency. Most private colleges tryto achieve regional diversity in its student body. The college may offer tuition discounts to entice students who are located in adifferent region.

3. Use the CLEP Program and AP Tests to Reduce the Cost of College

College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) is a widely accepted credit-by-examination program in the United States today. Although Advanced Placement (AP)courses are usually taken by above-average students, CLEP exams seem tobenefit the average student and also the non-traditional (adult ed)student. The CLEP examinations are a series of examinations in undergraduate college courses that provide the student with the opportunity to demonstrate college-level achievement and achieve college credit. The examinations, which are sponsored by the College Board, are administered at colleges year-round. All CLEP exams are delivered on computer, providing test takers with instant score results. Be sure to check the college's CLEP policy before taking any exam. The CLEP program can help students save time, save money, and advance to more specialized courses.

Perhaps the easiest and most effective way for a student to stand out academically for admissions is to score well on Advanced Placement (AP) tests offered by the College Board (www.collegeboard.com).While these studies are for the academically gifted student, they can represent real dollar reductions in the cost of college. The student can receive a full year's credit and be granted sophomore standing from more than 1,400 higher education institutions by earning satisfactory grades on enough AP Examinations.

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