Why Los Angeles Valley College?

Helping You Find Your Path to Success

By Los Angeles Valley College President Barry Gribbons, Ph.D.

Going to college is a big change and a major step to the future. Many students know what career they want and have well-developed, specific plans to get there. While others are still trying to figure things out.

The good news is that at Valley, we’re here for you. No matter the path you are on.

We start by making sure that you have an educational plan or are exploring your career options while you get started with general education (GE) requirements. At Valley, we have more than 170 degree and certificate options, including nursing, media arts, performing arts, STEM, social sciences, humanities, business and accounting, and more. These programs can help you transfer to a university, get a great job, or both. In addition, we have a bachelor’s degree program in respiratory therapy.

With our CalGETC certification, your LAVC general education coursework will satisfy lower-division GE requirements at both the UCs (University of California) and Cal States (California State University). This includes our highest transfer universities: CSUN and UCLA. And for our Trojan fans, we should also note that Valley is a top transfer school to USC. Of course, our students transfer to dozens of other universities each year as well.
We recently launched a new program called the Firefighter and EMT Preparation Program (FEPP), in partnership with the LA City Fire Department. It’s modeled off our program with the LAPD — Police Orientation and Preparation Program, or POPP — for folks who want to become police officers. Our athletic coaches work with students for two solid years, getting them physically ready for the academy. With FEPP, we have LA City firefighters embedded in the program here, working directly with the students. Graduates of the program will also be EMT certified, which is a big plus when joining LA City Fire.

If you’re concerned about the cost of education, you may be eligible for free tuition for two years through our Promise program. Saving you and your family thousands of dollars, especially if you’re planning to go to a four-year university. And of course, we have additional financial aid and hundreds of scholarships available.

For high school seniors and recent graduates, our Promise and First Year Experience program will help ensure that you successfully graduate or transfer, and don’t pay any enrollment fees for the full two years.

Valley is well regarded for our outstanding student support programs. We will connect you with amazing programs that care about your success and help you build community. Our support programs include the Dream Resource Center, Umoja and Black Scholars Program, Veteran’s Resource Center, Rainbow Pride Center, MESA (Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement), EOPS, CalWORKs, Rising Scholars for justice system impacted students, Basic Needs, Puente, TRiO, Upward Bound, Family Resource Center for student parents, and Guardian Scholars for former foster youth. We also have dozens of student clubs, so you can have fun and meet other students.

The campus environment is also amazing. Our beautiful, safe, park-like campus grounds are recognized officially as a Tree Campus by the Arbor Day Foundation. We have incredible modern learning spaces for students. We recently opened a state-of-the-art Valley Academic and Culture Center (VACC) with a main stage theater, horseshoe theater, blackbox theater, screening theater, soundstage with a virtual wall, post-production facilities, newsroom, podcasting booths, and more. Our Valley Academic Hall also opened last Spring, and soon we will be opening our Sage Hall.

We invite you to stop by for a theatrical production, dance performance, music concert, art gallery exhibition, athletic game, or other campus event. Many are free, and we have events every week on campus throughout the Fall and Spring semesters.

Our Monarch Athletics Program has men’s and women’s athletic teams in football, basketball, soccer, baseball, softball, water polo and swimming. Many of our student athletes will go on to the next level, playing at D1, D2 and D3 colleges. It’s not all about winning games, even though everyone loves to win. Athletics is also about the development of the person, teamwork, hard work, attention to details, and overcoming adversity. These are the important lesson both on and off the field.

All of that said, at Valley you can find your home away from home. Our sole reason for being here is to support you. Keep driving forward on your educational journey. Keep meeting new people. Keep opening doors to opportunity.