About CalChannel
An independent guide to California colleges and paying for them
CalChannel helps students and families compare UC, Cal State, private and community colleges, understand what college really costs and find the financial aid they qualify for, in plain language and with sources you can check.
- Who we areAn independent publisher run by the CalChannel editorial team
- Who it’s forHigh school students, transfer students, parents and counselors
- What we coverCollege profiles, costs, financial aid and applying
- What we’re notA college, a government agency or an admissions consultant
Why we exist
College decisions are expensive. Good information shouldn’t be.
California has more than a hundred public colleges and universities across three separate systems, plus dozens of private schools. Each has its own admission rules, costs and aid programs, and the details are scattered across hundreds of official pages.
We pull that information together in one place. Every college profile answers the same core questions: how selective the school is, what a year really costs, where it is and what it is known for. Our financial aid guides explain grants, scholarships, loans and work-study step by step, so families can compare options before they apply rather than after.
We write for first-generation students as much as for anyone else. That means plain language, no jargon without an explanation and links to the official source whenever you need the final word.
What we cover
Three things we help you figure out
Everything on CalChannel falls into one of three areas. Start wherever your question is.
Where to go
College profiles
Admissions, cost of attendance, campus size and location for public, private and community colleges.
How to pay
Paying for college
What college costs, and the grants, scholarships, loans and jobs that help cover it.
How to get in
Applying
The steps, deadlines and documents that turn a college list into an application.
How we work
From official source to finished guide
Every page goes through the same four steps. The full rules are in our editorial policy.
Step 1
Start with primary sources
We take figures from the college itself, federal databases and state aid agencies, not from other guide sites.
Step 2
Write in plain language
We explain terms like cost of attendance or Student Aid Index the first time they appear.
Step 3
Name the source and year
Our standard is to say where a number comes from and which academic year it covers. If we can’t source a figure, we leave it out.
Step 4
Review every cycle
We aim to review profiles and aid guides at least once per admission cycle and fix errors as soon as they’re reported.
Where our data comes from
The sources behind our numbers
These are the official sources we check first. You can use them too to confirm anything you read here.
- Each college’s own websiteAdmissions, tuition and financial aid pages, and the school’s Common Data Set when it publishes one.
- IPEDS and College NavigatorThe U.S. Department of Education’s database of enrollment, admissions and cost data for every accredited college.
- College ScorecardFederal data on net price, graduation rates and earnings after college.
- Federal Student AidThe rules for the FAFSA, Pell Grants, Work-Study and federal student loans.
- California Student Aid CommissionCal Grant, the Middle Class Scholarship and the California Dream Act Application.
- California Community Colleges Chancellor’s OfficeFee waivers, the California College Promise Grant and transfer programs.
Who writes our guides
The CalChannel editorial team
Our college profiles and guides are researched, written and updated by the CalChannel editorial team. Each article ends with a note from the team and shows a “last updated” date at the top, so you can see how current it is.
We don’t sell admissions consulting, and no college reviews our pages before they go live. When we make a mistake, we correct it and update the page date.
A note on our history
Now focused entirely on college
CalChannel used to publish general news about California state government. Today the site is focused entirely on college admissions, costs and financial aid for California students.
Our older articles about state government are no longer updated. For current information on elections or legislation, use official state sources.
Our independence
Not a government site, not a college
CalChannel is an independent publisher. We are not affiliated with the State of California, the University of California, the California State University, the California Community Colleges or the California Student Aid Commission, and we do not speak for any college.
Our guides are general information, not personal financial, legal or admissions advice. Always confirm deadlines, costs and aid rules with the college or agency before you make a decision.
FAQ
Questions about CalChannel
Is CalChannel an official California government website?
No. CalChannel is an independent publisher. For official information, use the college’s own website, the California Student Aid Commission or Federal Student Aid.
Do colleges pay to be listed or reviewed?
No. Colleges do not pay to be profiled and do not see our pages before they are published. Which schools we cover is an editorial decision based on what students search for.
How current is the information?
Our standard is for figures to name the academic year they cover, and every profile and guide shows a “last updated” date. We aim to review every profile and aid guide at least once per admission cycle. Deadlines and costs can change at any time, so confirm them with the college before you apply.
Can you help with my application or financial aid?
We can’t review applications, check aid status or give one-on-one advice. Your school counselor and each college’s admissions and financial aid offices are the right people for that. Our guides can help you prepare the right questions.
I found a mistake. How do I report it?
Send us the page link, what’s wrong and, if you have it, a link to the correct source through our contact page. We review every correction request and update the page date when we fix something.
Can I suggest a college or topic?
Yes. Tell us through the contact page which school or question you’d like covered. Suggestions from students and counselors shape what we write next.
Study support
Writing services that do my presentation for me WritePaper provide expertly crafted papers that address a wide range of topics. They allow students to meet academic requirements while reducing stress and saving time.
Get in touch
Talk to the editors
Corrections, questions about a guide or ideas for new topics all go to the same place: our contact page.
Want to know exactly how we choose sources and handle corrections? Read our editorial policy, or go back to the California college guide.