After early struggles, CA’s free online community college is growing

from Adam EchelmanCalMatters

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Calbraith College seemed doomed from the start. Just months after enrolling its first students in 2019, the online community college came under fire from educators groups and the state assembly agreed to close it. There was “poor management”, “ineffective and inappropriate recruitment” and “inadequate” support for students, a 2021 state audit found.

Yet Calbright College managed not only to struggle, but to grow.

It may now be the fastest-growing community college in California, based on preliminary enrollment data comparing fall 2024 to fall 2025.

By the end of the first academic year in October 2020, only 12 students had completed their course of study out of more than 900 who had enrolled, said the audit. Calbright now has over 6,000 students and a much higher graduation rate, according to the most recent data.

About 13 percent of students complete their studies in a reasonable amount of time, which for Calbright’s short-term certificates is typically about a year or less, according to Binh Thuy Do, the school’s vice president for research and development. These statistics put Calbright College more or less level with the graduation rate at the remaining 115 community colleges in the state.

But comparing Calbraith, which is entirely online, to any traditional brick-and-mortar school is challenging not only because it lacks a physical campus, but also because it uses a vastly different educational model.

Based on what is known as competency-based educationCalbright courses are designed so that students can pass each time they prove they know the material, whether it takes weeks or years. Calbright students can enroll anytime and study whenever they want by watching pre-recorded lectures or scheduling appointments with faculty. The college charges no tuition fees and uses only free online textbooks—a key difference from traditional community colleges, which typically operate on a semester basis and are free only to low-income students.

“The way it approaches higher education and the students it serves is the model of the future,” said Su Jin-Jez, CEO of the research organization California Competes. Western Governors University, Arizona State University and Southern New Hampshire University, which also offer similar types 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 fiscal year 2026–27, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed more than tripling Calbraith’s annual budget from $15 million a year to $53 million. Educators groups say California community colleges already offer courses similar to those at Calbright and that the money could be better spent on existing initiatives.

How different is Calbraith?

When Gov. Jerry Brown created Calbright in 2018, it was expressly designed to be distinct from existing community colleges. It offers only short-term, career-oriented certificate programs, not associate degrees. The idea was to attract students who would not normally have access to traditional higher education, often due to its cost. Calbright is specifically in charge of serving the millions of adults over 25 who do not yet have a higher education. At first, the college decided to be completely free, although its status allows it to charge tuition like other community colleges in California.

In a sense, Calbraith has already fulfilled his mandate. Almost all of the more than 6,000 students at Calbright are over the age of 25, and 44% are over the age of 40.

Deb Hemingway is 61 and a student at Calbright College. Two years ago, she was looking for online programs that could help her advance her career or land a new job when she saw a Google sponsored ad 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 keep up with their inventory, and worked on the course mostly on weekends. She received 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 in up to three years, Calbright says many of his programs can be completed in less than a year. In reality, most students drop out, and those who stay often struggle to manage school alongside the demands of full-time or part-time work and family responsibilities, such as children or aging parents.

“My children are grown. There are no children around, so it’s just me,” Hemingway said. “But just because it’s me doesn’t mean I don’t have stressors in my life.” The rising prices of food, gas and other everyday expenses — plus the pressure of her full-time job — make it difficult to study every week, she said.

Hemingway already has a bachelor’s and master’s degree, which is typical of many Calbright students but rare for most community college students.

Calbraith under scrutiny, again and again

In the early years, Calbraith always seemed on the verge of being shut down or stripped of funding by the Legislature. In 2020, the assembly passed a budget that stripped the school of funding. In 2021 and 2022, the National Assembly passed bills to eliminate itonly for the Senate or the governor to undo the effort. Legislative opposition has waned in recent years, although education groups still speak out against it.

“Our argument is the same as it has been since 2018 — it’s just not a necessary college,” said Stephanie Goldman, executive director of the California Community College Faculty Association. The association, along with a group representing independent teachers unions, asked the Legislature to oppose increased funding for Calbright.

A March 5 report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office found that Calbraith is still not meeting its original goal. “Evidence is mixed on how well college is reaching its target population of working adults who do not yet have access to college,” said the report, which evaluates the governor’s budget requests. “Although the college enrolls primarily working-age students, many of these students already have bachelor’s degrees. Additionally, it is difficult to measure student outcomes. Although Calbright collects data on graduation 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 Calbright proposal, including policies that would likely result in less funding. Anticipating that the governor’s full proposal may not happen, Calbraith already plans to lay off 93 employees.

To Jez, with California Competes, the Legislative Analyst’s Office thinks too narrowly about Calbright. “Are we meeting the needs of the state? That’s what we need to focus on,” she said. “What do Californians need and how do we deliver it?”

A million dollar experiment

like K-12 enrollment is declining and broader questions arise about the purpose of college degrees, other California 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 now online and despite pushback from some facultyseveral physical education colleges are beginning to offer a limited number of flexible, competency-based classes.

But Calbright is expensive, spending more per student than the average college.

“Questions also remain about Calbright’s profitability,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office said in a recent report. “In 2024-25, we estimated that Calbright spent about $53,000 per completed award, compared to about $35,000 at other community colleges.”

Calbright’s annual operating budget is about $50 million, said Sarah Jimenez, a spokeswoman for the college, which is about the same as the budget of the Gavilan Joint Community College District in Gilroy. By comparison, the Gavilan district had nearly 500 faculty and staff in the fall serving about 7,200 students, plus the cost of maintaining all of its buildings. Calbright has fewer than 200 faculty and staff for its approximately 6,000 online students.

As the college grows, Calbright “continues to explore” charging tuition at a similar rate as other community colleges, Jimenez said. But she added that “moving too quickly to a pay model” could create “hurdles for many of our trainees”.

Do, the college’s vice president of research and development, said the high annual budget stems from the technology requirements and start-up costs inherent in any new college. “The $50 million annual budget is not just the operating costs. It’s the administrative and infrastructure building that we 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 worth the state’s investment. Her data analytics certification has been helpful, she said, even if it hasn’t yet led to a new job or promotion. A friend recently asked her to do some consulting on the side; at work, she said she was able to give her boss more information about how the company could grow.

One of her salary goals is to make at least $150,000 a year, she said, but she later revised her answer. “The sky’s the limit.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.