Student satisfaction with overall experience and content learned rose by 10 points to 85% in 2024.
Sacramento, Calif., February 19, 2025 – Calbright College, an online community college in California dedicated to boosting economic mobility and access to skills-based training for adult learners from underserved communities today released the results of its Annual Student Experience Survey for 2024. Survey findings show that student satisfaction has grown, with 93% of respondents agreeing that they would recommend Calbright to a friend.
“Calbright’s innovative learning model provides a high quality, personal learning experience for adult and nontraditional learners,” said Don Orth, vice president for student services and success at Calbright. “Student feedback is essential for ensuring we meet our mission, and it’s rewarding to know that our efforts are resonating with learners. Calbright’s grounding in human-centered design always prioritizes data and student participation to inform how we continuously evolve to help learners achieve their education and career goals in this rapidly changing world.”
Key insights from the 2024 Annual Student Experience Survey include:
- About 85% of respondents reported satisfaction with their programs and overall experience at Calbright, up from 75% in 2023.
- 78% reported that Calbright has supported them in making progress toward their educational and career goals, and satisfaction with progress toward these goals was consistent with 2023.
- Consistent with the findings from 2023, the main educational goal among respondents was “receive skills training with a badge, certificate or industry certification” with nearly 75% of 2024 respondents selecting this category as their main educational goal.
Students shared feedback about the quality of Calbright’s instruction and resources: “As I’ve finished one program already from Calbright, I can attest that you can gain valuable knowledge and skills from the program offered as long as you have discipline and dedication to complete said program.” Students also praised the flexibility of Calbright’s learning model: “Calbright gives an opportunity not found anywhere else for people like me who have almost no time to study and need to make progress slowly due to time limitations.”
Calbright prioritizes student feedback as it seeks to grow its impact and the opportunities offered to adult learners, which includes its recent announcement of new and expanded programs to Calbright’s curriculum.
Using Feedback to Support the Student Experience
Calbright is dedicated to providing a positive online learning environment that supports students’ persistence in completing their certificate programs. Calbright recognizes that while its flexibly-paced programs are a feature that draws many students to the college, it can act as a double-edged sword by requiring greater discipline than a traditional system. These challenges were raised in feedback from previous student surveys, and Calbright introduced new tools to help students structure their learning when helpful.
In collaboration with UC Irvine’s School of Education and ideas42, Calbright developed a model known as “Pace & Progress Timelines” that help students plan out their assignments at a pace that works for them. From the initial pilots, Calbright found that the majority of students who chose to follow a timeline completed about double the amount of coursework than those who did not follow a timeline. These timelines are one way that Calbright is leveraging data and behavioral science strategies to improve student outcomes.
Empowering Students through Workforce Opportunities
Student feedback indicated that while satisfaction with program content, instruction and resources were high, there is a high level of interest in gaining work experience and connecting with potential employers. In 2024, Calbright responded to this interest by helping to launch the California Workforce Accelerator, a tech-driven public-private partnership that will allow businesses to integrate the training needed to succeed in their industries directly into classroom instruction. As part of the program’s pilot, 100-150 Calbright student participants will complete modules shaped by Accelerator employer partner HubSpot that will focus on AI use and digital marketing skills. Participants will then be eligible for a “micro-internship” training program, which will offer live instruction on HubSpot software, digital marketing, and AI tools led by industry experts. Participants are then paired with HubSpot customers to work on hands-on projects that showcase their abilities.
Calbright also announced last November that the college is planning to create paid apprenticeship opportunities for its alumni, now pre-apprentices, through a partnership with TechSF, a nationally recognized and registered apprenticeship program in the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD). TechSF integrates registered pre-apprenticeship to apprenticeship pathways with tech employers, reducing skills gaps and recruitment for companies, while helping job seekers gain valuable experience and industry-recognized certifications.
With its first ever California Department of Apprenticeship Standards approval status, Calbright will continue to partner with organizations across the state to offer adult learners a better chance at success in today’s labor market, while providing California employers with highly-skilled and qualified employees. Calbright continues to pursue partnerships with employers and apprenticeship providers in response to student input and to help meet its mission as a catalyst for the California workforce.
About Calbright College
Calbright College is a new kind of community college designed to support the needs and goals of adult learners. Established in 2018, Calbright is a statewide, online, and flexible California Community College that offers accessible and career-focused programs—based on in-demand skills from IT to CRM Platform Administration to Data Analysis. Calbright’s free and flexibly paced model, which utilizes competency-based education, works within the schedules of California’s working-age adults to provide the rigor of higher education without the logistical hurdles of a traditional institution.
