We are a "Military-Friendly" School.
This means to us...

Don't just take our word for it. Click here to watch videos of some of our students talking about their experiences at Coastline.

We recognize the training, education and experience you already have attained by serving in the Armed Services. We will assess your training and experience and award you up to 40 credit hours of equivalent college credits. That’s 2/3 of your AA degree, and puts you well on your way to attaining your first college degree.

We want to put a clear plan in your hands, so you don’t take courses you don’t need or courses which will not transfer into your Bachelors or second degree. That’s why we will conduct a free, no-obligation, unofficial evaluation for you. We can do this evaluation within about 96 hours, so you truly get an understanding of where you stand. If you decide not to go to Coastline, you’ll still have a plan in hand. If you decide to go to Coastline, we’ll do an official evaluation of your experience and credit and award you up to 40 credit hours for experience you already have from your time in the Armed Services. For a quick, unofficial evaluation, FAX your military transcript/assessment and any other college transcripts to 714-241-6324.

We have a mission statement that we live by: “Coastline Community College is committed to accessible, flexible, student-centered education within and beyond the traditional classroom.” Beyond the traditional classroom is what we're all about. We've had students take courses as far away as Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan and even an Ice Breaker in Antartica and as near as Seal Beach and San Diego.

We recognize your busy military and personal life. Coastline began in 1977, as a “college without walls.” Essentially, we began as a distance learning and telecourse college with multiple campus locations throughout the local community. We didn’t setup a distance learning program last week or last year to serve a peripheral audience of students. Students at a distance, working odd hours and with busy lives have been our audience from the first day we opened our doors, recorded our first telecourse, connected our first web server, held our first tele-conferencing course or delivered our first PDA course.

We are fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), a nationally recognized regional accrediting agency. This means your credits will transfer easily into the widest array of degree programs. Whether you take one course or obtain your Associate’s degree at Coastline, you may be confident that your courses will transfer and that Coastline is a legitimate, nationally recognized school.

We started specifically serving the military audience around 1983, which means we have over 20 years experience working directly with military students and their unique circumstances of deployment and duty.

We don’t let our military students get lost in the shuffle. Our Military Outreach Program is setup with a minimum of two representatives for every branch of the Armed Services to assist with either registration and enrollment or with the academic coordination of your course (testing, grades, extensions, access, etc.). When you call, fax or e-mail our offices you will get a response from someone who understands the educational restrictions unique to your branch of service.

We have live instructors! Even a self-contained, self-directed CD-ROM or PDA course at Coastline has a real, living breathing instructor behind it. If you have a course related question, you can phone, fax or e-mail the instructor for your course, and they have promised to respond to any inquiry within 72 hours. We also regularly conduct training seminars for our instructors to make sure they’re “up to speed” with all of the latest technology and practices of distance learning. You’ll never be left completely on your own, and if you take an internet course from us, you can expect regular communication through e-mail, message boards and sometimes even live chat.

We are a proud member of Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC). As such, we award up to 40 military credits for testing and military experience you may already have. We have guaranteed transferability with any other college in the SOC network (almost 1800 other colleges throughout the United States http://www.soc.aascu.org/socgen/Coll_UnivList.html). After you transfer into Coastline just 3 courses from other colleges, it may only require 4 Coastline courses to satisfy our residency and earn your AA degree. We believe you should get the credit you deserve.

We frequently self-audit our own courses and materials. While you may not see this up front, by doing so we’re saving you from having to read outdated materials or having to pay for textbooks you don’t need. By doing this self-audit we-re making sure that your course material is up-to-date and relevant to you.

We have clearly defined course objectives and learning objectives for every course we offer in every format we offer it. You’ll know what you need to learn, your goals for the course, and you will have a clear timeline on how to successfully complete your course.

We offer courses in a format that is right for you. Currently we offer internet courses and self-paced PDA or CD-ROM courses. Wherever you are and whatever your conditions, we have a course that can go with you, so you can still obtain your educational goals.

We don’t want you to spend more time in school than you need to in order to graduate. We take extra care to steer you on to the clearest path for your degree. Nobody wants to take courses which won’t apply to your degree, and we don’t want you to either. We encourage prospective and active Coastline students to apply for an unofficial or official evaluation to obtain their clear road map to their degree. Make your time in college count.

There are a number of reasons to choose a military friendly school like Coastline. Even if you go elsewhere, we feel the #1 reason to get your degree now is simply this:

A college degree is a mark of achievement that stays with you for life. No one can take it away from you, nor strip you of it. It’s a permanent positive mark on your career and life. It says you are a successful person who can be dedicated and apply energy and effort to the attainment of your goals. Will you be a part of next year’s 1,000+ Coastline graduates?