Calbright is meant to be more accessible, to all kinds of people, than a conventional college is. Some of these differences are easy to understand:
- Calbright is free.
- Calbright is online.
- Calbright accepts all adult Californians with a high school diploma or equivalent who apply. There are no admissions games.
Put all these factors together, and it makes sense that many people would find us more accessible than a conventional college: There’s no risk and no student debt at Calbright, and students can access classes from anywhere they have internet access. If they have trouble accessing the internet, Calbright will even loan them a laptop and wireless hotspot at no cost.
But being online is just the start. According to Calbright’s 2023-2024 Milestone Report, “nearly nine in ten of our students cite our flexible, supportive model as the reason they enrolled in Calbright.”
Even though free community college and online classes do make a big difference, what our students tell us over and over again is that it’s the flexibility of Calbright’s model, which uses “Competency-Based Education” (CBE), that really makes the difference. People enroll at Calbright because we adapt college around their lives, rather than demanding that their lives fit around college.
How Competency-Based Education Makes College Accessible
Traditional college courses are often based on whether a student shows up for class: If a class meets twice a week, are you there twice a week? If a class meets three times a week, are you there sitting in the classroom each day? That’s the most important thing they measure: do you show up?
Competency-Based Education turns that around. Instead of asking “Have you shown up?” a CBE class asks: “What do you know?”
CBE classes only measure knowledge: Can you demonstrate that you’ve learned the course material and mastered the skills? A student can spend as much time, or as little time, as they need to master each skill. Once they’ve shown that, they will pass the class.
That means Calbright’s classes are flexible: Students can log in and take classes on their own schedule, taking as little or as much time as they need. If a working mom’s best time to study is early in the morning before her kids wake up, she can do that. And if it takes them longer to master a skill, there’s no penalty. And if they already know something, they don’t have to spend time on it – they can test out and move on.
That flexibility, that CBE model, is what students overwhelmingly say makes Calbright College accessible to them. It’s a big part of what makes Calbright a leader in higher education for adults.
