B-
Overall Niche Grade
How are grades calculated?
  1. Academics
    B-
  2. Value
    B
  3. Diversity
    A+
  4. Campus
    D+
  5. Athletics
    NG
  6. Party Scene
    B-
  7. Professors
    B-
  8. Location
    A-
  9. Dorms
    D-
  10. Campus Food
    NG
  11. Student Life
    B
  12. Safety
    B+
View Full Report Card
California College of the Arts is ...
Private not-for-profit
Athletic Division
—
Athletic Conference
—
Address
1111 Eighth Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Website
cca.edu

California College of the Arts Rankings

Niche rankings are based on rigorous analysis of key statistics from the U.S. Department of Education and millions of reviews.

Admissions

Acceptance Rate
69%
Application Deadline
—
SAT Range
—
ACT Range
19-27
Application Fee
$60
SAT/ACT
Neither required nor recommended
High School GPA
Required
Will You Get In?

Test Scores and GPA for California College of the Arts

Cost

Net Price
$37,587/ year
National
$15,403
Average cost after financial aid for students receiving grant or scholarship aid, as reported by the college.
Net Price by Household Income
  • <$30k
    $25,600/ year
  • $30-48k
    $26,540/ year
  • $49-75k
    $31,109/ year
  • $76-110k
    $35,313/ year
  • $110k+
    $41,228/ year

Academics

Professors
B-
Based on faculty accomplishments, salary, student reviews, and additional factors.
Student Faculty Ratio
9:1
Evening Degree Programs
No
79%
of students agree that professors put a lot of effort into teaching their classes.24 responses
48%
of students agree that it is easy to get the classes they want.23 responses
30%
of students agree that the workload is easy to manage.23 responses

Majors

Most Popular Majors
  • Illustration
    41 Graduates
  • Graphic Design
    37 Graduates
  • Animation, Video Graphics and Special Effects
    31 Graduates
  • Architecture
    29 Graduates
  • Industrial and Product Design
    23 Graduates
  • Painting
    20 Graduates
  • Interior Design
    16 Graduates
  • Fashion and Apparel Design
    12 Graduates
  • Metal and Jewelry Arts
    12 Graduates
  • Multimedia
    12 Graduates

Students

Full-Time Enrollment
1,434Undergrads
Undergrads Over 25
14%
Pell Grant
29%
Varsity Athletes
—
Poll
What one word or phrase best describes the typical student at this school?
Based on 14 responses
Report
  • Creative
    64%
  • All extremely different with own opinions
    14%
  • Distant
    7%
  • Driven
    7%
  • Heavily depressed and stressed
    7%

Campus Life

Freshmen Live On-Campus
59%
Poll
85%
of students say they don't have Greek life.20 responses
Poll
96%
of students say no one pays attention to varsity sports.27 responses
Poll
What one word or phrase best describes your school?
Based on 13 responses
Report
  • Intense but Fun
    46%
  • Professors are what make the school worth it.
    23%
  • Expressive
    15%
  • Cool people, crappy environment
    8%
  • Introverted people, artistic environment
    8%

After College

Median Earnings 6 Years After Graduation
$35,700/ year
National
$33,028
Graduation Rate
59%
National
48%
Employed 2 Years After Graduation
85%
National
83%
75%
of students feel confident they will find a job in their field after graduation.16 responses
Colleges like California College of the Arts
More

California College of the Arts Reviews

343 reviews
All Categories
I am currently a Junior Animation major at CCA. I enjoy the oakland campus and the students who attend. While some students are competitive and cliquey, overall I think CCA has a supportive community. The only struggle so far is the difference in skill level. I had very little art skills before attending the school. While I have improved tremendously, my work is not quite on the level as most of the other students. This has proven to be a problem when working with groups and during critiques. Even though I still need practice, my work is sometimes looked down on by other students. Maybe if there are more collaborative projects as freshmen, the students can learn to not be as competitive.
Review California College of the Arts
In the animation program, it seems a lot of the professors are industry professionals who had nothing else to do. Some are really great, but my favorite teachers have been in other programs, such as illustration and film. The animation students tend to be very introverted and keep to themselves. A lot of people have friends, but a lot of people are kind of loners, especially transfer students such as myself. There are two campuses, one in San Francisco and one in Oakland, each campus has a completely different vibe. The SF campus is much more of a community while the Oakland campus feels like a commuter school. Both campuses, however, have fantastic resources and tools for student use.
The administration is terrible. Departments don't communicate with each other. Students and myself have complained about getting emails that we haven't paid a fee/tuition/etc, when we have.

Lack of real diversity tbh, especially within the professors. This is supposed to be an art school in the bay area. CCA prides itself for being super diverse, its not. Mostly all white teacher. And mostly all males in the design majors. Lack of diversity from international students also because they mostly come from Asian countries. Mostly white and asians.

No food plan, A2, our cafe at school is subsidized by CCA to be there and it's overpriced af and not your money's worth. You're better off going to whole foods to buy half a pound of bananas for $2.50. When you would just get one banana for a dollar at A2.

Stephen Beal, the president, doesn't listen to the students. We have tried petitions and talking to him and he still doesn't listen.