Costs

2024-25 tuition and fees

California residents pay $15,417 in tuition and fees; nonresident students pay $30,519 in tuition and fees.

For 2024-25, one year (including summer 2025) of health, dental, and vision coverage costs an additional $6,252. You may waive this coverage if you already have other insurance. For details on fees, see the Registrar's Fees page.

There may be a small tuition and fee increase for the 2025-26 academic year. Final figures for 2025-26 will not be available until summer 2025.

State residency requires proof of having lived in California for at least one year prior to enrolling, as well as the intention to make California your home (permanent address, voting and vehicle registration, bank account, tax records). All graduates of California high schools are eligible for the in-state tuition rate. See the Residency page for information.

The figures do not include living expenses. For guidelines on living expenses, see the Financial Aid Office's Cost to Attend page.

Many of our part-time internships during the school year offer a modest salary. Each student can count on one to two such internships, yielding between $2,000 and $5,000 per year, to help offset expenses. Most students also earn money by publishing stories from classes, conferences, or freelance work. All summer internships include a salary; our program does not support unpaid internships after graduation.

It is usually not feasible for our students to work at a part-time job (other than the internships) or to work as a teaching assistant during the academic year, but contact the program director if you wish to discuss this in more detail.

We encourage students to seek their own sources of funding. We offer fellowships and scholarships to offset a portion of the costs for most students, listed here. Fellowships are allocated according to a wide variety of factors, such as alignment with fellowship criteria and stated need. In the 2024-25 program year, we distributed an average of $44,500 in fellowship funding per student.