BPPE License in California

Submit Your California BPPE in Record Time

BPPE accreditation is mandatory for all private postsecondary and vocational educational institutions in the state of California. Certification assures your school meets the quality standards mandated by the governing body. The Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) is a division of the Department of Consumer Affairs.

BPPE accreditation provides value and accountability, giving students the confidence they need to make informed choices. The bureau stands behind its certifications by enforcing minimum standards and promoting ethical business practices, protecting consumers against fraudulent or fiscally irresponsible activity on the part of the school.  

Getting Started

Licensing your school begins with a BPPE application. There are 25 sections in all. You will need to provide comprehensive information about your school, its mission, and how you intend to accomplish your goals.

Each section of the application requires a complete account, many of which you will have to create specifically for the submission. These include:

• Educational mission and objectives
• Financial aid policies
• Advertising or other public statements examples
• A complete listing of courses and descriptions
• Description of financial resources
• Facilities and equipment overview
• Faculty
• Governing board
• Examples of student agreements
• Learning resources
• Graduation documents
• Job placement assistance
• Record keeping
• A detailed plan showing how you intend to maintain compliance
  

If at any time you wish to change the name of the school, your educational focus, location, or the method by which you deliver your courses, additional applications must be filed. Please review our Before You Start page for further insights.

Time To Complete The BPPE Application

Ultimately, the BPPE application process is lengthy, highly detailed, and very time-consuming. Should your submission be returned as incomplete, insufficient, or denied, you face further delays and may need to alter your timeline expectations.

In our experience, the average time to prepare a BPPE application is about one month. The approvals process can take much longer, depending on your school’s size, the number of programs you intend to offer, and the various components required in the application.

Associated Costs

Along with your application, you are required to submit a current financial statement, prepared and audited by a certified public accountant (CPA). We recommend working with an accounting professional who has experience working in the educational realm. For clients using our comprehensive setup services, this feature is included in our offer.

A one-time, non-refundable fee of $5,000, payable to BPPE, is required at filing.

Educational programs that require licensing must have approvals or intent to approve documentation in place to include with the application.

On average, a completed submission package can be anywhere from 200 to 500 pages in length. While you could undertake the process yourself, it’s always an excellent strategy to work with an agency like ours as we have many years of experience in this area. To ensure a complete application, you must understand the individual regulations, and the application itself is not always straightforward in this regard.

Our team is here to guide you through the California BPPE application process to ensure a successful submission and provide consultation on continued compliance.