Fact Sheet

The Best of Locations

Palomar College is one of 108 colleges in the California Community Colleges system and eight in San Diego County. Located in San Marcos, California, our 200-acre main campus is nestled at the foot of the region’s rolling coastal hills and valleys in a lovely area once named Los Vallecitos de San Marcos (Little Valleys of St. Mark) by Spaniard settlers in 1797. San Marcos is perfectly situated just 30 miles north of San Diego, 90 miles south of Los Angeles, 12 miles east of Southern California’s serene beaches, and a two-hour drive from the Laguna Mountains and the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. In addition to our main campus in San Marcos, we operate an educational center in Escondido, and seven smaller centers throughout north San Diego County, in Rancho Penasquitos, Poway, Fallbrook, Ramona, Pauma Valley, Borrego Springs, and Camp Pendleton.  (Click here for detailed maps and driving directions.)

 The Students We Serve

Palomar College serves more than 30,000 full-time and part-time students each fall and spring semester, while about 18,000 students attend during summer semester. About 25 percent of our students are enrolled full-time, while about 60 percent are enrolled part-time in credit classes, and 15 percent are enrolled in non-credit classes. About half of our students are aged 18 through 24, while the other half are 24 through 60+. A majority of Palomar students are employed. Our student population is nicely diverse in its ethnicity, with about one-fourth Hispanic, about 6 percent Asian, about 4 percent African-American, and smaller populations of Filipino and Native American. Another 10 percent of our students have not indicated their ethnicity. We typically serve about 300 international students from 49 different countries each semester as well. These students must achieve a minimum score of 470 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language and carry an F-1 student visa.

 Our Academic Program Offerings

Palomar College offers more than 250 Associates Degree and certificate programs, as well as not-for-credit community development and personal enrichment classes for life-long learning. We have transfer agreements with the California State University and University of California systems, and our high-level coursework in transferable classes fully prepares our students for success at four-year colleges and universities. In fact, Palomar students who transfer perform better in their first year at a four-year college than students from other community colleges. Our five academic divisions are:  Arts, Media, Business and Computer Systems; Career, Technical and Extended Education; Languages and Literature; Mathematics and The Natural and Health Sciences; and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Instructional departments are:

Administration of Justice American Indian Studies American Sign Language Art Behavioral Sciences Business education Chemistry Child Development Communications Computer Science and Information Systems Cooperative Education Counseling Dental Assisting

Earth Sciences Economics, History & Political Science Emergency Medical Education English English as a Second Language Environmental Technology Family and Consumer Sciences Fire Technology Foreign Languages Graphic Communications Journalism Mathematics Multicultural Studies

Nursing Education Performing Arts Physical Education Physics and Engineering Public Safety Regional Occupational Program Reading Sciences Special Education Speech Communications Trade and Industry Water Technology Welding Zoology