California Baptist University Reviews

  • 62 Reviews
  • Riverside (CA)
  • Annual Tuition: $38,058
70% of 62 students said this degree improved their career prospects
79% of 62 students said they would recommend this school to others
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Student & Graduate Reviews

not a Christian university disappointed
  • Reviewed: 2/21/2024
  • Degree: Psychology
"My experience with the online courses at this university has been disheartening. The negligence of counselors has led to significant financial and emotional distress, as administrators and advisors overlook crucial elements. As a disabled student, the lack of support and additional barriers in my final class have been particularly challenging. The university's indifference to the well-being of online students is evident, with minimal check-ins throughout the semester or no response from advisors, despite awareness of academic and emotional struggles. Having invested over $56,000 in FAFSA aid, and facing disqualification for private loans due to credit issues from student loans, the financial burden adds to the disappointment. This Christian university falls short of representing the pillars of empathy and equity, especially for students with disabilities. VERY DISAPPOINTED IN THE OPS PROGRAM, I tired to reach out to the president of the university and have been getting dodged by all offices with no one reaching out. (considering Class action lawsuit ) due to the negligence on online students."
JM
  • Reviewed: 2/18/2024
  • Degree: Health Sciences
"My experience at this institution has been far from memorable. The advising team as well as the counselors are not great with online transfer students. The amount of misinformation I have received from both a counselor and multiple advisors is disappointing. I've had to take two courses that I was told I needed, that I have come to find were not needed. I have no idea what to believe at this point. The only reason I have not left this institution is due to the fact that I've invested so much of my time and MONEY into this school. It's shameful how when issues arise they have no care to resolve them. They just ignore your issues and act as if they did nothing wrong."
Cswo
  • Reviewed: 8/6/2023
  • Degree: Special Education
"I have attended SNHU online, University of Redlands in person, CBU in person (online when covid hit), and GCU online. CBU is by far the best school I have attended. I did have 2 instructors who were duds, but out of all 4 programs, this program has been the one to prepare me for a doctoral degree. I am a more spiritual person and I did not feel this school was overly religious. The instructors were very respectful of all students regardless of their beliefs. I graduated feeling class with a handful of classmates. This is a great school!"
IMHO
  • Reviewed: 8/18/2022
  • Degree: Health Sciences
"Pros: Wonderful, caring instructors. I felt like it was a good education. Campus is clean and safe. Dorms and food were nice enough. Cons: Absolutely horrific the way they stigmatize mental health. The incompetence of the school to deal with even the slightest issues is abominable. They damage people who reach out for help. Put on your pretty smile and act like everything is fine, or get trashed for struggling. Also there is NOTHING to do at the school or in the Riverside (barf!) area. The place is a ghost town on the weekend because its so boring. Everyone goes home. There are a few events during the year, but even those are kind of boring. Even my parents said parents weekend was fun to see me, but the school part was a snooze! Basketball games are fun, but that's about it."
SDT
  • Reviewed: 7/12/2022
  • Degree: Liberal Studies
"Jesus is expensive ! I graduated in 2007 and used my degree accordingly. The school is clean, and a great environment. The staff when I went there was excellent and extremely helpful and kind. Other than that, this school is a financial money pit that will place your young soul in huge amounts of dept. I pretty much paid for my degree, you couldn't fail and the academic work was very easy. The school uses the term " Christian " as a way to lure you in to borrowing a ton of money. It's a HUGE waste of money in the long run. Go to a JC and max out your credits. After that, finish at a State school."
Haley
  • Reviewed: 12/27/2019
  • Degree: Chemical Engineering
"During my time as an undergraduate student at CBU I had some of the best faculty and staff as my professors and was able to learn more than just what I needed to complete my degree. The College of Engineering has amazing professors who are invested in their students and truly want to see their students succeed."
Kate
  • Reviewed: 8/24/2019
  • Degree: Accounting
"I'm surprised at some of long-winded, ranting, negative reviews. I've had an amazing experience being a student with the CBU Online Master's program. Let me tell you, just because it is online it is NOT easy. In fact, I'm pretty sure they make it insanely hard because they're making up for the fact that you're not sitting in a classroom 15 hours a week. There is a LOT of homework. The teachers really do care and want you to learn. The most challenging aspect - aside from trying to work full-time and complete this Master's program - is that there are critical assignments each term that MUST be passed with a B or higher to pass the course, no matter how well you're doing in it otherwise. It definitely keeps you on your toes and ensures you're taking it seriously and invested in the learning. I find the assignments extremely difficult if not vague and confusing, but I believe that's because they want you to work really hard. I am certain that when I graduate in December it is going to be the best and most accomplished I've ever felt. I'll know I really earned the degree because of how hard I worked."
Aviation Scam
  • Reviewed: 4/9/2019
  • Degree: Aviation
"DON'T ENROLL in the Aviation Flight Program. This program has misled dozens of students interested in becoming future pilots. This program is a complete failure and an ongoing lawsuit with many of the students is in progress. Excessive aircraft downtimes, lack of instructors, mismanagement of the overall program has lead to a huge bottleneck that results in students taking 3-5 semesters to complete a flight lab that should take just 1."
Aviation Disaster
  • Reviewed: 4/9/2019
  • Degree: Aviation
"I have been a student for over 2 years in the Aviation Flight Program and I must say this has been the worst experience with an academic institution that I ever had. This is anything but a university level program. While in attendance my entire class either dropped out or switched their degree plan because the mismanagement of the program had failed them. Anything that could go wrong with this program did happen to include: mismanagement of the program, loss of FAA flight school certificate, loss of instructors and professors, excessive downtime of aircraft. I waisted 5 semesters of tuition here. the program currently has a lawsuit against it."
john
  • Reviewed: 3/25/2019
  • Degree: Fitness Trainer
"Deciding to attend CBU was a huge mistake. The experience I have had has been nothing but negative. Admissions, financial advisor, councilors all have mislead me causing huge financial issues, The guidance given by CBU has lead me to spending more money, getting in more debt, and getting stuck in a program longer. The quality for the classes, and education has been poor. Many of these professors do not do anything. I pay too much and receive too little in return. CBU is nothing but a fraud image. Teaching comes last at this school."
Unhappy Student
  • Reviewed: 2/20/2019
  • Degree: Computer Science
"CBU is absolutely ridiculous. I go home crying everyday because I feel so overwhelmed and alone. I have been shown that many faculty members do not care about students. Every day I ask myself how I somehow scraped by, Im so tired and frustrated with this school. Parking is a joke. CBU prioritized an events center (money) over a parking structure that is needed by students. I come to school early in hopes of finding a parking spot (I even have an 8am class) and I cant find parking some days because of events. Event parking should not be in the main parking lot for commuter students. Some days I drive from LA and I hate coming to school to find out theres some event I had no idea about. I have to walk very far some days and shuttles come every 20 minutes so its hard to even catch one without being super late to class. A lot of engineering professors are unprofessional and difficult to understand. I had a professor tell me that several assignments were not due, that they were only listed because the other class was doing them. I made sure to ask her at least 3 other times throughout the week and she confirmed that they were not due. To my great surprise, we ended up turning them it. This semester we have to do a project for a class. The professors havent even finished designing the course were supposed to design our robots around and they havent even figured out the rules. Our professor constantly gives us false information and this even led to one of my project partners being berated by a very rude professor. The lack of communication and organization in the engineering department is laughable. No one can find any common ground and it is a struggle just to figure out what is happening. In one course, all of our students got a D or worse on a particular assignment because it was explained so poorly by our professor. No one knows what to do. I dont like this school and I am looking into transferring. I would not recommend this school for engineering. The fees and tuition are way too expensive for the quality of education you would receive. Id rather go to a large UC, pay less and have the same kind of issues. Its not worth it. A lot of the students that attend CBU are not kind and a lot of the boys are very intense. The boys here will send you 10 messages in a row without any shame and will actually follow you to class/change majors just to have an excuse to constantly bother you. Its really creepy and Ive had it happen to me several times. I feel uncomfortable here. Sometimes I try to ask other students for help, they just scoff and ignore me. Its really hard to interact with these children in any kind of way. Yeah, I say children because they definitely have some more growing up to do. The food is good. I normally get a chik fil a biscuit and cry in my car between classes. So theres that."
Anonymous
  • Reviewed: 2/5/2019
  • Degree: Business
"A very well-kept modernized school. On the come up to become a well known school with the transition to division one. Great programs that have the ability to let students connect with professors, which isnt allowed in all places. Strong Christian roots and very loving faculty."
Marcus Duringer
  • Reviewed: 2/27/2018
  • Degree: Mechanical Engineering
"Highly recommend choosing California Baptist University. The professors are knowledgeable of their fields and the material taught will prepare you for real world situations. The campus is great size, with all classrooms on main campus or a short walk across the street. Also the food is high quality and very tasty. Go Lancers!"
igor
  • Reviewed: 9/1/2017
  • Degree: Physical Therapy
"it was a great experience. I am so glad I went there."
Anonymous
  • Reviewed: 9/1/2017
  • Degree: Education
"I received both my BA and MS degree at Cal Baptist. I truly loved the atmosphere of the school. I felt the professors were knowledgeable in what they taught, and had real world experience."
Ashley Goodman
  • Reviewed: 8/21/2017
  • Degree: Accounting
"I thoroughly enjoyed the course content provided by this school. The quality of the instruction was excellent. The instructors were very communicative, responsive, and helpful. Having attended California Baptist University after attending a public community college, I was very pleased with the quality of instruction being offered by California Baptist University, exceeding the quality of the public community college immensely."
CK One
  • Reviewed: 4/29/2017
  • Degree: Photography
"The most racist, incestuous joke of a school. The "professors" don't even have advanced degrees...They are just former students. Zero diversity in the faculty or student body. Zero understanding of art. Don't attend if you ever want to do anything other than become a wedding photographer or shoot crappy freelance jobs in the area. They misuse the Bible to create a bubble...they are not engaged with the community. I feel sorry for the ones who are spending $30k a year to attend this disaster."
Disappointed
  • Reviewed: 4/27/2017
  • Degree: Nursing
"My personal experience with the nursing department and its faculty has been disappointing. I strongly believe that although many of the instructors as a whole do care about the students, the overall attention to student needs has fallen to dangerous lows. I have personally witnessed several students reach out to instructors and staff to discuss feelings of being overwhelmed and physical symptoms of panic attacks. These were met with very calloused responses and little depth of care. One instructor specially stated to a student in response to her concerns that she needed to "just change her perspective." This is not acceptable from a facility that claims to be Christian oriented, or from a facility that adopts the Parse theory of Humanbecoming. Other examples have been for staff to not adhere to the same class standard as others. This includes some faculty stating that assignments need to be done in a specific way while others claim that aspects can be changed here and there. The lack of organization and standard has been inconsistent and when students fall behind or have difficulty the staff do not claim any responsibility. Instead there is a general lack of owning the mistakes on their part which leads to more stress the students carry. Other examples include classes that were held in conference rooms as appose to appropriate school classrooms due to "registrar not having space for us." There were often not enough seats and students offered to bring seats from home or hold the class itself in the students home to better aid in educational surroundings. Some classes did not have the appropriate instructor for several weeks and were proctored by staff that were not qualified to teach the course while an appropriate instructor was located. Students were told that assistance would be provided and specific faculty were in place to be able to place students in clinical sites. Students repeatedly reached out to the appropriate staff for assistance in location of clinical sites and were often not responded to or told that a site would be located yet there was no follow up or proper response. Many students were told that they needed to be working full time as nurses during the course of the Masters program and were later told that this is inaccurate due to the time constraint that many students were concerned about. The faculty have purposely encouraged applications from all religious affiliations but were hard pressed to accommodate such practices as no class on Saturdays for students that followed a Seventh Day Adventist religion. Class objectives, schedule and assignments were changed almost weekly. This includes adding brand new curriculum or new projects halfway through the semester. This added to the poor foundation and confusion that many students had and they were told to "be flexible." Some instructors were even quoted saying "I don't know why I'm teaching this class, I was never in this area." When referring to why they were teaching a class on a subject they were never directly affiliated with. A fee of over $1,000 per student was added to students financial statements without alerting the students beforehand or discussing what the fee was for. When students were told this was to accommodate lab time, actors for OSKE exams and lab equipment, students pointed out in vain that they only use the lab one time per semester, actors are almost entirely volunteers and the equipment was generally used up to four times per semester. Many of the instructors, although excellent practitioners, were held to a very low standard in terms of academics. Poor quality in education is shown through instructors reading off the slides that they themselves received off the internet. Another example is test questions being taken from unscholarly sources such as Quizlet for exams. Students will often contact instructors for additional resources to better their practice and are told that the school "cannot teach everything" and therefore the student needs to seek help from youtube or pay to attend a skills workshop."
Chelsea
  • Reviewed: 3/26/2017
  • Degree: Education
"Cal Baptist University, Riverside is truly a devoted school. They are devoted to creating an environment of kindness, empathy, and awesome education. The professors I had at this school are definition of being people of God, they are women of strength (I have only had two women professors). Everyone I have spoken to at Cal Baptist has had awesome character and a smile on their face. Not only would you be around great people but also have a degree from a Godly University."
Matthew Baldwin
  • Reviewed: 3/10/2017
  • Degree: Criminal Justice
"I loved my experience at California Baptist University (CBU) and I couldn't imagine having completed my undergrad anywhere else. The campus is beautiful, safe, small, and packed with personality. My classes specific to my degree were small and personal and the general education classes that most had to take were a little larger but still felt intimate. The professors were all professional, intelligent, and experts in their craft. The professors in the criminal justice program were all either former or current police, judges, or lawyers which helped bring a feeling of practicality to their lectures that can only be achieved from real life experience. The campus is great as well. CBU is a religious school and has rules as such. It is a dry campus, you will have to take mandatory Bible classes, and chapel is required at least twice a week. This was not a problem for me because I am a religious person and partially chose CBU because of that fact however, you do not have to be a Christian to go there you just have to follow their rules. I cannot say enough good things about CBU and my experience there and I will be forever grateful for the experience it gave me and the education it provided me to have the career I have today of being an officer in the United States Air Force. California Baptist University was more than just a school for me, it was a season in my life that I will never forget."