Skip to main content

California Institute of the Arts

Consumer Information

About the Institute

The Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended, requires institutions participating in the Title IV financial aid programs to disclose specified information to all current and prospective students and employees. 

This page serves as a centralized location for access to California Institute of the Arts consumer information and is intended to assist students, their families, and interested third parties in obtaining information about the Institute’s educational programs, costs, and outcomes.

Below you will find more information with a brief description or link to where it can be found. 

If you need assistance or paper copies, please contact the Financial Aid Office at finaid@calarts.edu or by writing to us at:

California Institute of the Arts – Financial Aid Office
Room: F305
24700 McBean Pkwy.
Valencia, CA 91355

Please indicate the subject to be Consumer Information Request. Financial Aid staff will contact the appropriate campus department/office to gather the requested information and will respond in a timely manner.

General institutional information

Instructional facilities

The center of campus life is a sprawling five-level, 500,000-square-foot building—equivalent to 11 acres of square footage—which houses all six schools.

Faculty

Student financial assistance

Student Loan information

  • Initial Loan Counseling for Student Borrowers
    All first time federal loan borrowers must complete loan counseling before their loan can be disbursed. Counseling can be completed online.
  • Exit Counseling for Student Borrowers
    All students that borrow federal loans must complete loan exit counseling when they graduate or drop below half time (6 units). Exit counseling can be completed here.

Treatment of Title IV aid when a student withdraws

The law specifies how your school must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that you earn if you withdraw from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law are Federal Pell Grants, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants, TEACH Grants, Direct Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs).

Though your aid is posted to your account at the start of each period, you earn the funds as you complete the period. If you withdraw during your payment period or period of enrollment (your school can define these for you and tell you which one applies to you), the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If you received (or your school or parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance than you earned, the excess funds must be returned by the school and/ or you.

 The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of your payment period or period of enrollment, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.

 If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. If your post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, your school must get your permission before it can disburse them. You may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that you don’t incur additional debt. Your school may automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and room and board charges (as contracted with the school). The school needs your permission to use the post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other institutional charges. If you do not give your permission (some schools ask for this when you enroll), you will be offered the funds. However, it may be in your best interest to allow the school to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.

There are some Title IV funds that you were scheduled to receive that cannot be disbursed to you once you withdraw because of other eligibility requirements. For example, if you are a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and you have not completed the first 30 days of your program before you withdraw, you will not receive any Direct Loan funds that you would have received had you remained enrolled past the 30th day.

If you receive (or your school or parent receive on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, your school must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

  1. your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or
  2. the entire amount of excess funds.

The school must return this amount even if it didn’t keep this amount of your Title IV program funds.

If your school is not required to return all of the excess funds, you must return the remaining amount.

For any loan funds that you must return, you (or your parent for a Direct PLUS Loan) repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you make scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.

Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment. The maximum amount of a grant overpayment that you must repay is half of the grant funds you received or were scheduled to receive. You do not have to repay a grant overpayment if the original amount of the overpayment is $50 or less. You must make arrangements with your school or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.

The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from any refund policy that your school may have. Therefore, you may still owe funds to the school to cover unpaid institutional charges. Your school may also charge you for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return. If you don’t already know your school’s refund policy , you should ask your school for a copy. Your school can also provide you with the requirements and procedures for officially withdrawing from school.

If you have questions about your Title IV program funds, you can call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243). TTY users may call 1-800-730-8913. Information is also available on Student Aid on the Web at studentaid.gov

Health and safety

Student outcomes

Other

Complaint procedure

An individual may contact the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education for review of a complaint. The bureau may be contacted at 2535 Capitol Oaks Drive, Suite 400, Sacramento, CA 95833. Phone: 916-431-6924, Fax: 916-263-1897.

An individual who wishes to make a complaint relating to the accreditation requirements shall be referred to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC).

Below are the Complaint Process and Complaint Form.

Private Loan - Self-Certification Form