Children’s Book Illustration

Most courses combine theory with hands-on exercises. Our courses are taught by professionals who work in the field they teach, and will bring real-life projects and examples to your course.
 

Yes. Our programs are designed to be working-student friendly and most of our students are working professionals. Many courses vary between two and three units, which amount to approximately 18-20 hours of class time for a two-unit course and 27-30 hours of class time for a three-unit course.
 

Most of the courses in this program are 3 units. 3-unit courses run for 9 weeks with 3 classroom hours per week (totalling 27 classroom hours). For exact course dates of upcoming sections, visit the webpage of the course you are interested in taking on our website.
 

Each student has their own learning style so this can vary greatly. As a rule of thumb, expect to spend an average of two hours studying for every hour you spend in-class. For online courses, students should plan to spend approximately 8-10 hours per week viewing lectures and completing coursework.
 

You officially have five years to complete all requirements for the certificate, although students can typically complete the entire program in 12-16 months (4-6 quarters) when taking 1-2 courses per quarter.
 

All required courses cost $395 each. Electives range in price from $295 to $595. The estimated cost of the certificate program (not including  textbooks/materials) is $2,170-$2,500.
Students pay as they go when they register for classes, not in one lump sum.
 

UC San Diego is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). UC San Diego Extension — like all other UC San Diego schools, colleges, and departments — is accredited by WASC through the University. All courses and certificate programs offered by UC San Diego Extension have been developed and are administered in accordance with Extension policy and the regulations of the Academic Senate of the University of California.
 

UC San Diego Extension facilitates private education loans through UC Approved Lenders for students officially enrolled in a certificate. Information on these programs can be found at extension.ucsd.edu/financial. State-Funded Training is available through EDD (Employment Development Dept.); more information can be found on their website: www.edd.ca.gov.
 

When you have paid your certificate fee and successfully completed all program requirements, you will need to request an audit by Student Services. To request an audit:
•                In your My Extension account, click on “My Courses.”
•                On the right side of the page under “My Certificates,” click on the name of the certificate.
•                On the right side of the page under “Tools,” click on “Request Certificate Audit.”
•                Complete and submit the form that appears.
Once you have formally submitted your audit request, your certificate will be mailed to the address we have on file for you within ten business days.
 

Yes, you may enroll in the program at any time. However, it is recommended that you enroll as soon as possible. The program curriculum may be updated at any time; if certificate requirements change, you must adhere to the curriculum at the time of your enrollment into the certificate. Enrolling in the certificate also gives you access to quarterly, personalized enrollment reminders from the program manager.
 

Yes, students have the option to take any course in this program without registering for the certificate, provided any and all prerequisites for the course have been fulfilled.
 

We recommend enrolling as soon as possible. Many of our core certificate courses may fill up before the course start date. Each quarter we also offer an early enrollment discount of $25 on select courses if you enroll by the discount deadline.
Students are advised to be enrolled no later than the day before the start date of the course.
 

To enroll in a class, click on the class link in the course matrix above and that will take you to the specific class page. On the class page you can find additional details about the course such as start date, time, classroom number, instructor and textbook info.  To enroll click on “Add to Cart” which will lead you to complete the registration/payment process. You can also register over the phone with Student Services at 858-534-3400.
 

When students enroll in a class they are given three grading options: Letter grade, Pass/No Pass, or Not for Credit. Students taking a class as part of a certificate need to complete their classes for credit (i.e. Pass/No Pass or Letter grade) and receive a C-/Pass or higher grade.
Grades below a C-, No Pass, and Not for Credit do not count towards certificate requirements.
 

Online courses are asynchronous. Students do not need to meet at a specific time online, but will need to log in each week to view the lessons, participate in course discussion, and complete and submit coursework/quizzes/tests.
 

You will have access to an online class on the official start date of the class. Access will be available at 12:01am Pacific Time.
Enrollment to online classes can take up to 24 hours to process and sync with our online classroom platform. For example, if a class started on Tuesday and that is the day a student enrolled, they will likely not have full access to the class until 24 hours later on Wednesday.
 

All in-class courses take place at either our UCSD Extension Complex on the west side of UCSD campus, or at our University City Center building location off the 805 Freeway at Governor Dr.

For questions regarding these courses and certificate, please contact us at ahl@ucsd.edu or 858-534-5760.