Antioch University-Santa Barbara

What is the history of Antioch University-Santa Barbara?

Antioch University-Santa Barbara is the Santa Barbara location of Antioch University, a private university with a long association with adult education and experiential learning. The Santa Barbara campus traces its beginnings to 1977.

The university's roots reach back to Antioch College, which opened in Ohio in the 1850s with Horace Mann as its first president. That history helps explain the Antioch name, but prospective students should distinguish today's Antioch University from Antioch College: they are separate institutions. In Santa Barbara, the university has developed a mix of bachelor's degree-completion and graduate programs rather than a conventional residential, first-year college model.

What are the faculties and departments at Antioch University-Santa Barbara?

Antioch University-Santa Barbara offers a relatively focused set of undergraduate and graduate programs, rather than a broad collection of colleges and departments. Its academic areas include liberal studies and psychology at the bachelor's level, alongside graduate study in fields such as clinical psychology and education.

The bachelor's programs are particularly relevant to students bringing previous college credit. Graduate applicants should examine the curriculum for their specific campus program: a clinical psychology degree, for example, has different supervised-training and licensing considerations from a general psychology degree. Program availability, delivery format, and required in-person activities can change, so applicants should use the current Antioch University catalog to confirm which courses and credentials are offered through Santa Barbara rather than another Antioch location or an online program.

What is the location of Antioch University-Santa Barbara?

Antioch University-Santa Barbara is in Santa Barbara, California, in a downtown setting rather than on a large residential campus. That location makes travel time, parking, and the cost of living practical considerations for students who attend in person.

Downtown places students near community organizations and local employers, which may matter for field placements and professional networking. Santa Barbara Municipal Airport serves the area, but students commuting from elsewhere in the region will also need to account for local transit or car travel. Applicants should confirm where their particular classes and any required placements meet; an Antioch program's format does not necessarily indicate that every activity takes place at the Santa Barbara site.

What is the mission and vision of Antioch University-Santa Barbara?

Antioch University states that its educational purpose centers on learning, social justice, and positive change. Its approach emphasizes applying academic work to professional and community settings.

For a prospective student, that stated philosophy is most useful as a question to test against a particular program's curriculum: How much work involves field experience, community engagement, or applied projects, and how is it assessed? The mission describes the university's priorities; it is not, by itself, evidence of any individual student's outcome. Antioch University-Santa Barbara is a private, nonsectarian institution.