What is California Virtual Campus (CVC Exchange)?
The CVC Exchange is an innovative tool that allows students currently enrolled in a California Community College to instantly enroll in online courses offered at eligible colleges without filling out a separate application.
Students can be confident they can get the class they need thanks to real-time seat counts. Additionally, financial aid and academic transcripts are automatically transferred between the two schools.
No additional costs
Online courses through CVC Exchange are the same cost as a student’s local college. There are no additional costs to use this service.
How to get started
To get started, students must search for online classes using the CVC Exchange’s search engine, located at cvc.edu. To accommodate a student’s unique needs, courses can be searched by CSU GE, IGETC, substitute course, or keyword. Search results contain both courses eligible for instant enrollment and those that require a separate application.
Palomar College is currently only registered as a Home College
All colleges participating in CVC Exchange have signed a Federal Financial Aid Consortium Agreement. Under the agreement, the Home College will be responsible for the distribution of Financial Aid awards for students using online cross-enrollment. If you are eligible for Federal Financial Aid at your Home College, you may be able to have both Teaching College and Home College units combined, and counted toward your maximum financial aid award. For further details, contact your Home College Financial Aid office.
Students can search for courses at cvc.edu using a variety of criteria such as Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum ( IGETC) and CSU GE requirements; substitution courses for specific, oversubscribed home college courses; and courses that are part of specific programs or pathways. Further integration with programs and pathways will provide students with different ways to search
for the classes they need.
Enter your primary California Community College and then search for the class you would like to take. You can search by keyword, course name, or general education requirement. Once your search results are returned, you can filter by term, live seat counts, start date, teaching college, and transferability.
Only students enrolled in at least six units (1/2 time) at Palomar College are eligible for Federal Financial Aid cross enrollment . Students must also meet the following requirements:
● Have at least a 2.0 GPA or not yet established a GPA at Palomar
● Have no outstanding fees at Palomar
● No out-of-state address on file at Palomar
Students using the CVC Exchange are subject to the payment policies of the college that is offering the class, i.e. the Teaching College. Since a college may have a drop for non-payment policy and deadline date; it is in a student’s best interest to pay for classes at the time of enrollment in order to secure a seat in the class. Even if a student initially chooses the credit card option to pay for classes, eligible students are still allowed and encouraged to apply for both the CCPG and Federal Financial Aid at time of payment. If approved for either or both CCPG and Federal Aid, students who may have used the credit card option will be appropriately reimbursed.
1. Pay with credit card – The option to pay with a credit card through the payment portal is the most immediate payment option available to Exchange students. This option is strongly recommended to avoid being dropped for non -payment.
2. California Colleges Promise Grant (CCPG) – Students who are eligible California residents, may apply for the California Colleges Promise Grant (CCPG) which can waive enrollment fees for qualified students for the entire school year.
3. Federal Financial Aid – If an Exchange student is qualified to receive Federal Financial Aid from their Home College, to help cover the cost of tuition and fees for classes being taken at the Teaching College; they may request Federal Financial Aid from their Home College.
Home College – College from which students enter the CVC Exchange to take courses through other colleges. Palomar is a Home College.
Teaching College – College that offers courses via the CVC Exchange to students from other participating colleges. Palomar is not a Teaching College at this time.