Merritt College
Rolling
Acceptance rate
$12,000
Tuition/yr
4,500
Enrollment
About Merritt College
Community college in Oakland, CA (East Bay). Strong transfer and vocational programs.
Merritt College is a public two-year community college in Oakland, California, founded in 1954 and part of the Peralta Community College District. It sits on a 125-acre campus in the hills of East Oakland and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). The college enrolls approximately 6,000 students and awards associate degrees and certificates across eight career pathways.
The college's strongest programs include Registered Nursing and Allied Health, Community Social Services and Substance Abuse Counseling, Environmental Management and Landscape Horticulture, Cybersecurity, and Paralegal Studies. Merritt also offers a robust transfer pathway to University of California and California State University campuses, with direct articulation agreements and Transfer Center advisors connecting students to schools including UC Berkeley and CSU East Bay.
The Oakland Hills campus provides access to one of the most economically dynamic regions in the United States, with proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area tech industry, healthcare sector, and public service employers. The college's low tuition relative to four-year institutions makes it a practical entry point into the American higher education system for students looking to complete lower-division coursework before transferring.
Campus & Location
CA
Suburban
Optional Practical Training (OPT)
All graduates qualify for 12-month OPT. STEM-designated programs (CS, Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, Sciences) qualify for 24-month STEM OPT extension — 36 months total work authorisation.
For Nepali students
- International students at Merritt pay approximately $400 per unit in non-resident tuition under the Peralta Colleges fee schedule, making annual costs significantly lower than most US universities, a full-time load of 30 units per year comes to roughly $12,000 in tuition alone, well below the average four-year university rate for internationals.
- Merritt's articulation agreements with UC Berkeley and other UC/CSU campuses offer a structured two-plus-two pathway: Nepali students can complete general education and pre-major coursework at community college tuition rates, then transfer into a bachelor's program, substantially reducing the total cost of a US degree.
- Allied Health, Nursing, and Cybersecurity programs align with high-demand fields in the US labor market, and F-1 students who transfer to a four-year university become eligible for Optional Practical Training (OPT) and STEM OPT extensions after graduation, giving post-study work rights of up to three years in qualifying fields.
- As a community college, Merritt does not offer merit-based scholarships specifically for international students, but its dramatically lower tuition compared to four-year universities functions as a structural cost advantage for Nepali families with limited budgets who want a US education with a clear transfer route.
Admission requirements — Nepali equivalents
A rough translation of the published minimums for Nepali applicants:
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