California College of the Arts
About
The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in San Francisco; in 2022, the Oakland campus was closed and merged into the San Francisco campus. CCA enrolls approximately 1,239 undergraduates and 380 graduate students. In January 2026, CCA president David Howse announced the college will be closing at the end of the 2026–2027 academic year, with Vanderbilt University taking over the campus.
Admissions funnel
How selective is this institution, and how many admitted students choose to enroll?
Outcomes & equity
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Non-Pell students graduate at a 9.0-point higher rate than Pell recipients.
What families actually pay
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Academic programs
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Faculty
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
CCA vs IPEDS peer group
The peer institutions CCA selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectCalifornia College of the Arts | 61% | 91.1% | 1,308 | $42,168 | Associates Colleges: High Career & Technical-High Traditional |
Art Center College of Design | 79% | 74.5% | 2,308 | $50,209 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs |
California Institute of the Arts | 67% | 32.3% | 1,277 | $47,183 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
Columbus College of Art & Design | 56% | 67.7% | 916 | $30,139 | Associates Colleges: High Career & Technical-High Traditional |
Maryland Institute College of Art | 72% | 76.8% | 1,687 | $38,429 | Associates Colleges: High Career & Technical-High Traditional |
Minneapolis College of Art and Design | 51% | 48.5% | 831 | $25,935 | Associates Colleges: High Career & Technical-High Traditional |
Otis College of Art and Design | 66% | 81.8% | 1,267 | $45,864 | Associates Colleges: High Career & Technical-High Traditional |
Pratt Institute-Main | 74% | 73.3% | 5,356 | $50,647 | Associates Colleges: High Career & Technical-High Traditional |
Rhode Island School of Design | 89% | 18.7% | 2,520 | $46,253 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Ringling College of Art and Design | 72% | 69.7% | 1,666 | $55,390 | Associates Colleges: High Career & Technical-High Traditional |
School of the Art Institute of Chicago | 67% | 77.5% | 3,394 | $49,822 | Associates Colleges: High Career & Technical-High Traditional |
School of Visual Arts | 76% | 92.6% | 3,812 | $58,628 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
| Peer group median | 70% | 73.9% | 1,677 | $46,718 |
Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
Institutional Research provides official, accurate, and timely information and analysis to support the planning, research, reporting, and decision-making activities of the California College of the Arts. The office coordinates these services in an objective and systematic manner to support the college mission.
Visit IR office page- Jose de los ReyesDirector of Institutional Research & Effectiveness
Documents & reports (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Grants & funding opportunities (4)
Federal grant awards and open funding opportunities awarded to this institution.
Notable alumni (13)
A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.
- Nazgol Ansarinia
- Edward Blake
- Maggie Fost
- Zach Gibson
- Matt Johnson & Chris Yamane
- Wioleta Kaminska
- Kristin Neidlinger
- Melissa Martin
- Heidi Meredith & Renee Walker
- Nazanin Oveisi
- Jennifer Sonderby
- Joel Stillman
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