Calbright College seemed doomed from the start. Just months after enrolling its first students in 2019, the online community college was under fire from faculty groups, and the state Assembly had agreed to shut it down. It had “poor management,” “ineffective and inappropriate hiring,” and “inadequate” support for students, a 2021 state audit found.
Yet Calbright College managed not only to soldier on but to grow.
Now it may be California’s fastest-growing community college, based on tentative enrollment data comparing fall 2024 to fall 2025.
By the end of its first academic year in October 2020, just 12 students had finished their course of study out of more than 900 who had enrolled, the audit said. Now, Calbright has over 6,000 students and a much higher rate of completion, according to the most recent data.
About 13% of students finish their studies in a reasonable amount of time, which for Calbright’s short-term certificate programs is usually about a year or less, according to Binh Thuy Do, the school’s vice president of research and development. Those statistics put Calbright College roughly on par with the completion rates at the state's other 115 community colleges.
But comparing Calbright, which is completely online, to any traditional brick-and-mortar school is challenging not only because it lacks a physical campus but also because it uses a significantly different education model.
Based on what is known as competency-based education, Calbright courses are designed so that students can pass whenever they prove they know the material, whether that takes weeks or years. Calbright students can enroll at any time and study whenever they want by watching pre-recorded lectures or setting up meetings with professors. The college charges no tuition and uses only free online textbooks — a key difference from traditional community colleges, which usually operate on a semester basis and are only free for low-income students.
“The way that it’s approaching higher ed and the students they serve, it’s the model of the future,” said Su Jin Jez, the CEO of the research organization California Competes. Western Governors University, Arizona State University and Southern New Hampshire University — which also offer similar kinds of flexible, online courses — have grown rapidly in recent years to become some of the largest universities in the country.
In his initial budget proposal for the 2026–27 fiscal year, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed more than tripling Calbright’s annual budget from $15 million per year to $53 million. Faculty groups say California's community colleges are already offering similar courses to Calbright’s and that the money could be better spent on existing initiatives.
How different is Calbright?
When Gov. Jerry Brown formed Calbright in 2018, it was explicitly designed to be different from existing community colleges. It only offers short-term, career-oriented certificate programs, rather than associate degrees. The idea was to attract students who don’t usually access traditional higher education, often because of its cost. Calbright is specifically tasked with serving the millions of adults over 25 who don’t already have a college degree. Early on, the college decided to be completely free, though its statute allows it to charge tuition like the rest of California’s community colleges.
In some sense, Calbright has already succeeded in its mandate. Almost all of Calbright’s more than 6,000 students are over the age of 25, and 44% are over the age of 40.
Deb Hemingway is 61 and a Calbright College student. Two years ago she was searching online for programs that could help her advance in her career or get a new job, when she saw a sponsored ad on Google for Calbright. “I thought it was a scam,” she said. “I thought, ‘This can’t be free.’”
Hemingway enrolled in the data analysis program, one of the most popular courses. She kept her day job in retail merchandising, helping stores stay up-to-date on their inventory, and worked on the course primarily on weekends. She got her certificate in 10 months and is now enrolled in another program focused on human resources.
Although students can complete their courses on their own schedule for up to three years, Calbright says many of its programs can be finished in less than a year. In reality, most students drop out, and those that remain often struggle to manage school along with the demands of a full- or part-time job and family obligations, such as kids or aging parents.
“My children are grown. There’s no kids around, so it’s just me,” Hemingway said. “But just because it’s just me doesn’t mean I don’t have stressors in my life.” The rising price of food, gas, and other daily expenses — plus the pressures of her full-time job — made it difficult to study each week, she said.
Hemingway already has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, which is typical for many Calbright students but rare for most community college students.
Calbright under scrutiny, again and again
In the early years, Calbright always seemed on the brink of getting shut down or defunded by the Legislature. In 2020, the Assembly passed a budget that stripped the school of its funding. In 2021 and 2022, the Assembly passed bills to eliminate it, only for the Senate or the governor to quash the efforts. Legislative opposition has waned in recent years, though faculty groups still speak out against it.
“Our argument is the same that it’s been since 2018 — this just isn’t a necessary college,” said Stephanie Goldman, executive director of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. The association, along with a group representing independent faculty unions, has asked the Legislature to oppose increased funding for Calbright.
A March 5 report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that Calbright is still falling short of its original purpose. “The evidence is mixed as to how well the college is reaching its target population of working adults not already accessing higher education,” states the report, which assesses the governor’s budget requests. “While the college is primarily enrolling working‑age students, many of these students already have bachelor’s degrees. Furthermore, it is difficult to assess student outcomes. Although Calbright collects data on completion rates, employment, and earnings, its metrics are not comparable to those reported by other community colleges.”
The office recommended significant changes to the governor’s proposal for Calbright, including policies that would likely result in less funding. Anticipating that the governor’s full proposal may not happen, Calbright already plans to lay off 93 employees.
For Jez, with California Competes, the Legislative Analyst’s Office is thinking too narrowly about Calbright. “Are we meeting a state need? That’s what we need to be focused on,” she said. “What do Californians need and how do we deliver it?”
A multimillion-dollar experiment
As K-12 enrollment declines and broader questions emerge about the purpose of college degrees, California’s other community colleges are increasingly targeting the same population of working adults that Calbright was designed to serve.
Almost half of all community college classes are online now, and despite pushback from some faculty, a few brick-and-mortar community colleges are beginning to offer a limited number of flexible, competency-based classes.
But Calbright is costly, spending more per student than the average community college.
“Questions also remain around Calbright’s cost‑effectiveness,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office recent report stated. “In 2024–25, we estimate that Calbright spent about $53,000 per award completed, compared to about $35,000 across other community colleges.”
The annual operating budget of Calbright is about $50 million, said Sarah Jimenez, a spokesperson for the college, which is roughly the same as the budget of Gavilan Joint Community College District in Gilroy. For comparison, the Gavilan district had nearly 500 faculty and staff in the fall, serving about 7,200 students, plus the costs of maintaining all of its buildings. Calbright has fewer than 200 faculty and staff for its roughly 6,000 online students.
As the college grows, Calbright “continues to explore” charging tuition at a similar rate to other local community colleges, said Jimenez. But she added that “moving to a fee model too swiftly” could create “barriers for many of our learners.”
Do, the college’s research and development vice president, said the high annual budget stems from technology demands and startup costs, which are inherent in any new college. “The $50 million annual budget is not just the operating costs. It is the administrative and infrastructure build that we’ve had to do.” In addition to supporting its own students, Do said Calbright also conducts research and development on behalf of the entire community college system.
Hemingway said her education was well worth the state’s investment. Her data analysis certificate has been helpful, she said, even if it hasn’t led to a new job or a promotion just yet. A friend recently asked her to do some consulting on the side; at work, she said she’s been able to give her boss more input about how the company can grow.
One of her salary goals is to make at least $150,000 annually, she said, but later revised her answer. “The sky is the limit.”
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
