West Los Angeles College

West Los Angeles College is an accredited California Community College offering paths to university transfer, career education and courses for personal or professional growth. It occupies 70 park-like acres overlooking Culver City, Marina Del Rey and Greater West Los Angeles. On a clear day, from the highest points on campus, you can see the Pacific Ocean. With an active student population of nearly 12,000 regular and extension students, our 110 full-time faculty, more than 300 hourly faculty and 112 classified staff create an educational environment unique in Southern California.

City Skyline View

Our Dental Hygiene program is a national model and extremely competitive to enter. We have the only American Bar Association Approved Paralegal program in the Los Angeles Community College District. The campus boasts state of the art childcare and learning services to help students succeed in their studies. Our athletic fields have been host to Olympic events (the hammer throw, and track and field event at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games).

 

All students at West have the opportunity for success. The College awards more than 600 degrees and certificates annually in 39 different fields. Each year, West sends more than 300 transfer students to four year colleges and many West Associate degree and Certificate program graduates begin professional employment immediately after graduation in consumer education, engineering and industrial technologies, law and health.

 

Our students have gone on to the greatest of successes. More than 60% of our Associate Degree graduates each year transfer to four year colleges. Several of our former students are now faculty or staff members at West. Our athletes have gone on to professional sports, including NFL Hall of Fame inductee Warren Moon. A former President of the college was once a student at West.

 

West creates success through its innovative programs. The college offers traditional transfer and associate degrees through its academic programs as well as certificate and special programs. Each semester, the college offers nearly 1,000 classes in 12 different academic disciplines. The College also offers Associate Degrees in 41 different subjects, 16 different Certificates of Completion, 25 different Skill Certificates and 26 different Transfer Associate Degrees.

Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, Westside Extension has provided over 110,000 classes, serving over 50,000 different students. Each semester, Westside Extension offers more than 500 different classes in person and online, and with a class for everyone!

 

Our students reflect the diversity of our service area, as well as general trends in education and the economy. In the 2003-2004 academic year, we enrolled 8,305 students. Forty-six percent of our students were under the age of 24; another 29% were between 25 and 34 years of age. Students are 9% Asian/Pacific Islander, 46% African American, 29% Hispanic and 12% White. Sixty-three percent of our students are women.

 

A survey conducted by the District in 2005 provides additional insights into our students. There were approximately 1,200 responses. When asked to identify themselves by selecting a statement, nearly 74% chose the statement that began, “I am a student…” The survey also found that more than 90% of our students intend to complete a formal course of study, from certificates to Ph.D.s. This is somewhat contrasted by the significant number of “first generation” college goers present at West. For example, nearly 33% of students were born outside of the U.S. and another 21% of students whose parents (both) were born outside of the U.S. Equally, reflecting national averages, 27% of students reported that their parents had college degrees. In addition to being young, West’s students are also mostly single (74%) and have no dependent children (72%). Twenty-seven percent work full time, and additional 39% work between 10 and 39 hours per week.

 

The College is divided into four administrative groups: Academic Affairs, Administrative Services, Student Services and the Office of the President. Each of these groups represents the major operations of the College (college organization chart). The campus is governed through collegiate consultation and shared governance agreements as well as by educational codes and standards. The College is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The accreditation review process recently (June 2006) reaffirmed West’s accreditation.

Accounting
AdministrAtion of Justice
AerospAce production technology
AfricAn-AmericAn studies
Allied heAlth
AmericAn sign lAnguAge
AnAtomy
Anthropology
ArAbic
Architecture
Art
Astronomy
AviAtion mAintenAnce techniciAn

 

No courses