Admission

Eligibility

Admission to Sierra College is open to any person who:

1. Has a high school diploma, GED, or passed the high school proficiency examination, or
2. Is over 18 years of age and capable of profiting from instruction.

Admission Procedures

All new students and students returning to Si­er­ra Col­lege after an absence of one or more se­mes­ters must sub­mit an ap­pli­ca­tion for ad­mis­sion prior to reg­is­ter­ing for class­es. Electronic ap­pli­ca­tions are available online at www.sierracollege.edu . Paper applications, also available in Spanish and Russian, may be obtained at a campus Admissions and Records office. Additional admission information in Spanish and Russian is also available online. Students are encouraged to submit official high school and col­lege tran­scripts to an Ad­mis­sions and Records office.

Each semester the college offers registration op­por­tu­ni­ties to those who file an application for ad­mis­sion and com­plete the “Steps to Success.” Dates are pub­lished online or may be ob­tained by calling (916) 660-7340 or (530) 274-5302.

Residency Re­quire­ments

For the purpose of determining tuition and en­roll­ment fees, Si­er­ra College stu­dents are subject to the le­gal res­i­dence re­stric­tions es­tab­lished by the Cal­i­for­nia leg­is­la­ture. Res­i­den­cy is de­ter­mined at the time of ad­mis­sion and re­quires a state­ment of legal res­i­dence. Sup­port­ing doc­u­men­ta­tion may also be re­quired.

California res­i­den­cy shall be established for students who qual­i­fy under one of the fol­low­ing conditions:

1. If 19 years of age or over, has resided in Cal­i­for­nia and has “man­i­fest­ed the intent” to make Cal­i­for­nia their res­i­dence for at least one year and one day pri­or to the be­gin­ning of the se­mes­ter.
2. If 18 years of age and both the student and the stu­dent’s par­ent or legal guard­ian have resided in Cal­i­for­nia and have “manifested the intent” to make Cal­i­for­nia their res­i­dence for at least one year and one day pri­or to the be­gin­ning of the se­mes­ter.
3. If under 18 years of age and the stu­dent’s par­ent or le­gal guard­ian has resided in Cal­i­for­nia and has “man­i­fest­ed the intent” to make California their res­i­dence for at least one year and one day pri­or to the be­gin­ning of the semester.

Any student not meeting one of the above re­quire­ments will be clas­si­fied a nonresident. Regulations allow certain students to apply for nonresident tuition waivers. Contact an Admissions and Records office for further information.

Nonresident stu­dents who wish to request a res­i­den­cy sta­tus change must submit a residency reclassification petition by the end of the semester in question. Residency doc­u­ments should be sub­mit­ted to a cam­pus Ad­mis­sions and Records office the se­mes­ter prior to the change of status.

International Students

International stu­dents attend Sierra College from around the world. Each se­mes­ter more than 47 dif­fer­ent countries are rep­re­sent­ed at the col­lege. Regardless of TOEFL scores, all students take assessment tests to determine placement in appropriate courses. Based on test results, college-level and/or ESL courses will be recommended. As­sis­tance with the ap­pli­ca­tion and reg­is­tra­tion pro­cess is provided by the In­ter­na­tion­al Stu­dents Office (ISO). Con­tact the ISO di­rect­ly for application ma­te­ri­als at (916) 660-7330, email internationalstudents@sierracollege.edu or ac­cess international student information and ap­pli­ca­tion forms on the col­lege web site at www.sierracollege.edu/int .

In­ter­na­tion­al stu­dents wish­ing to apply for study to the col­lege on an F-1 visa must sub­mit the fol­low­ing to the In­ter­na­tion­al Stu­dents Of­fice:

1. A completed Sierra College International Stu­dent Ap­pli­ca­tion.
2. Meet at least one of the following English Lan­guage Re­quire­ments:
   Score at least 133 CBT (Com­put­er Based Test), 450 PBT (Paper Based Test), or 45 iBT (Internet Based Test) on the TOEFL exam.
   OR
   Enroll in the “English as a Second Lan­guage” (ESL) program at Sierra College. This requirement is waived for students from coun­tries that use En­glish as the primary lan­guage in their ed­u­ca­tion­al sys­tems.
3. An of­fi­cial bank statement (in English) dated within three months indicating that there are sufficient funds available to cover tuition ex­pens­es (minimum $17,000.00 U.S. dollars).
4. Official transcripts trans­lat­ed into En­glish in­di­cat­ing successful com­ple­tion at a sec­ond­ary school equiv­a­lent to com­ple­tion of an Amer­i­can high school and tran­scripts from any col­leges or uni­ver­si­ties at­tend­ed.
5. A copy of valid passport (photo page).
6. A non-refundable application processing fee of $100.00 pay­able to Sierra College in the form of a MasterCard or Visa credit card, wire transfer, cashier’s check, or check drawn on a U.S. bank (do not send cash). The $100.00 will be cred­it­ed toward tu­ition at the time of reg­is­tra­tion.

International Student Priority Application Deadlines

(for students transferring from another U.S. college):

International Student Priority Application Deadline

Semester	Date
Fall semester	July 1
Spring semester	December 1
Summer session	May 1

NOTE: Prior to arriving in the United States, prospective students shall submit to Sierra College proof of freedom from tuberculosis dated no more than 90 days before the start of classes. This report must be professionally translated to English.

Mandatory Sierra College Health Insurance

All in­ter­na­tion­al stu­dents at­tend­ing Sierra Col­lege must purchase mandatory health in­sur­ance. There are no ex­cep­tions, even for students who have health insurance through their home coun­tries.

Other Important Health Information

When traveling from coun­try to country, a stu­dent may be ex­posed to different dis­eas­es. Sierra College strong­ly en­cour­ag­es the fol­low­ing im­mu­ni­za­tions: Tet­a­nus, Mea­sles and Ru­bel­la.

Academic En­rich­ment Program

Sierra College provides special part-time ad­mis­sion to stu­dents who:

• have completed the tenth grade;
• are at least 15 years of age;
• have a GPA of 3.0 or above; and
• assessed into the appropriate transfer level courses.

Students must attend a high school which has a current Academic Enrichment Compliance form on file in the Admissions and Records office. Home schooled students or those attending a charter school must have an affidavit indicating they are legally home schooled or attending a charter school.

Students must submit a Sierra College ap­pli­ca­tion for admission, an Academic En­rich­ment Permission form, and an official high school transcript each semester. En­roll­ment must be recommended by the school principal or counselor, and have the consent of a parent or guardian. Students should be counseled by the high school staff to determine the courses in which they should enroll. Enrollment is limited to a maximum of 7 units per semester; specific courses in which students may not enroll are published online on the Academic Enrichment Restricted Course List. Stu­dents admitted under these provisions are subject to all college rules and regulations and are not eligible for student employment. Contact a campus Admissions and Records office for more in­for­ma­tion.

Reference: Sierra College Board Policies/Administrative Procedures Chapter 5 .