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California PsyD programs, and the one thing that decides what the degree is worth.
25 doctorates in psychology based in California, grouped by accreditation — because California will license you without APA accreditation, and the internship year very largely will not.
In short
Which PsyD programs are there in California?
Every PsyD in the state, grouped by what its accreditation actually gets you
20 of 25 are APA-accreditedCalifornia does not require APA accreditation. Your internship does.
Every list of PsyD programs sorts on accreditation and none of them explains what it decides, so here it is in full.
For the license itself, the Board of Psychology asks about the institution, not the program. Business and Professions Code § 2914(b)(2)(A) requires a doctorate from “a college or institution of higher education that is accredited by a regional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education.” In California that means WSCUC. The word “APA” does not appear in the statute, and it does not appear in the implementing regulation, 16 CCR § 1386, either. This is not theoretical: the Board’s own 2025 figures show new California psychologists licensed from non-APA programs every year.
For the supervised experience, the rule is programmatic. 16 CCR § 1387 requires the internship or postdoc to be APA-accredited, or a member of APPIC or CAPIC. APA-accredited internship sites overwhelmingly take applicants from APA-accredited doctoral programs, so a non-APA doctorate narrows that funnel sharply and pushes candidates toward CAPIC placements.
And for everything after, the constraint is geographic and occupational rather than legal. Many other state boards, the ASPPB Certificate of Professional Qualification, the VA and most federal psychologist posts, and a lot of hospital and academic medical center jobs presume an APA-accredited doctorate and internship. A degree that works in California and nowhere else is a career geography decision, taken years early.
B&P § 2914(b) · 16 CCR § 1386 · 16 CCR § 1387 · verified against the Board’s published law and regulations, 8 August 2026
Every figure below is the institution’s own, with the year it applies to and a link to the page it came from. 20 of the 25 publish a tuition figure; the rest say nothing and this page says so rather than estimating. Accreditation status is APA’s own, read from its quarterly Notices of Actions rather than from a school’s description of itself — which matters, because at least one school’s site is a year out of date about its own status.
APA-accredited
19The default expectation. An APA-accredited doctorate is what APA-accredited internships, the VA, most hospital posts and most other states' boards are looking for.
Alliant International University (CSPP), Fresno
FresnoAlliant International University (CSPP), Los Angeles
AlhambraAlliant tells applicants that “completion of an APA-accredited internship is not required to complete the program.” That is worth reading twice: the VA and many postdocs require one.
The program’s own page ↗Alliant International University (CSPP), Sacramento
SacramentoAlliant International University (CSPP), San Diego
San DiegoAlliant International University (CSPP), San Francisco Bay
EmeryvilleAzusa Pacific University
AzusaChristian, practitioner-scholar, with declared emphases in systems/family psychology, diversity, and integration of faith with practice. An MA in Clinical Psychology is awarded en route after 57 units.
The program’s own page ↗Biola University (Rosemead School of Psychology)
La Mirada15 credits of theology and 9 of psychology-theology integration are inside the degree and inside the comprehensive exams. Rosemead runs a separately APA-accredited Clinical PhD as the research track; the PsyD is the practitioner one.
The program’s own page ↗California Baptist University
RiversideAPA moved this program from contingency to full accreditation at its April 2026 meeting, with the maximum ten-year horizon. CBU's own site had not caught up at the time of checking and still described it as on contingency.
The program’s own page ↗California Lutheran University
Thousand Oaks / OxnardTwo of its own full-time training clinics, so early clinical hours are in-house rather than dependent on external placements. Cal Lutheran's page says Thousand Oaks; APA's record says Oxnard — worth asking which campus classes actually meet on.
The program’s own page ↗California Northstate University
Rancho CordovaInside a health-sciences university alongside MD, PharmD and DMD programs. One of the very few that publishes a full five-year total cost, itemized year by year.
The program’s own page ↗Fuller Theological Seminary
PasadenaThe oldest APA-accredited PsyD in the state. 28 units of theology and 20 of psychology-theology integration are built into the degree, which is why the unit count is roughly double a semester-unit program's. Tracks in Neuropsychology or Culture and Community.
The program’s own page ↗Loma Linda University
Loma LindaPublishes a year-by-year cost of attendance rather than a program total: $38,031 for year one, then $46,158 for years two to four. Inside a Seventh-day Adventist academic health system, so placements skew medical. Optional specializations in health psychology, neuropsychology and clinical child.
The program’s own page ↗National University (JFK School of Psychology)
Pleasant HillThe successor to John F. Kennedy University's PsyD, on the same campus, with a fresh ten-year accreditation of its own granted in March 2024. At about $40,756 a year it is materially cheaper than the other private PsyDs — though the only published figures are in its APA disclosure, not on its tuition page. Do not confuse it with National's online PhD in Psychology, which is not APA-accredited and is not a licensure path.
The program’s own page ↗Palo Alto University (PAU–Stanford PsyD Consortium)
Palo AltoA real two-institution consortium: faculty from PAU and Stanford's Department of Psychiatry, the program describes itself as 50% Stanford-affiliated, and the diploma is signed by both. Flat quarterly tuition of $21,048 for years one to three, so transferring units in does not reduce what you pay. Roughly 30 places from 650–750 applications.
The program’s own page ↗Pepperdine University (GSEP)
Los AngelesThe shortest unit count of any California PsyD, which reflects a genuinely four-year design. First-year practicum runs inside Pepperdine's own four community clinics. Its program page and its tuition page disagree on the per-unit rate; the figure here is from the official tuition table.
The program’s own page ↗The Chicago School, Anaheim
AnaheimThis is the former Irvine program. It was created at Irvine in 2019 to let students from the collapsed Argosy University finish their degrees, and moved to Anaheim in 2021. There is no Chicago School PsyD in Irvine or San Diego.
The program’s own page ↗The Chicago School, Los Angeles
Los AngelesDo not confuse this with the school's online PsyD in Applied Clinical Psychology, which is a different, non-licensure-track degree and is not APA-accredited.
The program’s own page ↗The Wright Institute
BerkeleyA freestanding professional school — the PsyD and one MA are the whole institution. Flat rate of $45,600 a year for years one to three, then $19,500 on reduced-tuition status and $5,950 during internship, so the total depends on how long the dissertation takes. Theoretically pluralistic rather than one orientation, with both a psychodynamic and a CBT clinic in-house.
The program’s own page ↗University of La Verne
La VerneA 12–14 student cohort with graduate assistantships offered to every first-year, and an explicit requirement of at least 20 hours of personal psychotherapy during training.
The program’s own page ↗APA-accredited, on contingency
1Real accreditation, not a provisional half-measure — a degree finished while a program holds this status counts as completed at an accredited program. It is the status APA grants a program too new to have graduated anyone, because there are no outcomes yet to judge. The program must apply for full accreditation within three years. The risk to weigh is small but not zero: ask the program how conversion is tracking.
Mount Saint Mary's University
Los AngelesThe only California PsyD with a Latinx Mental Health emphasis, and it funds students through paid teaching and research assistantships — uncommon at a practitioner-model PsyD. Its APA response is due 1 May 2027.
The program’s own page ↗APA-accredited, inactive
1A teach-out. Accreditation is held open so students already enrolled graduate from an accredited program, but the program is not admitting anyone. Not an option if you are applying.
University of San Francisco
San FranciscoClosed to applicants. USF: “Starting in the Fall of 2025, the program is phasing out our existing program and is no longer admitting students.” Accreditation is held open so enrolled students still graduate from an accredited program. Several legacy pages on USF's own site still advertise application deadlines — they are stale.
The program’s own page ↗Not APA-accredited
4These are regionally accredited institutions, so the degree can satisfy the California Board of Psychology. What it does not do is clear the internship, portability and employment hurdles above. Read the section on what accreditation decides before you rule one in or out.
California Institute of Integral Studies
San FranciscoCIIS held APA accreditation once and gave it up, and says so: “As a non-APA accredited program, we are not limited by the American Psychological Association’s narrow view of the field.” That is a real philosophical position and it has real consequences — see what accreditation actually decides, above.
The program’s own page ↗Meridian University
Santa Monica, Petaluma, and onlineThe only hybrid or online doctorate on this list, and the only one that sells a triple-licensure pathway — psychologist, MFT and LPCC from one degree. Note its own caveat: students entering with Advanced Standing do not meet the MFT or LPCC educational requirements. It publishes no internship match rate, EPPP pass rate or attrition data, which APA-accredited programs are required to disclose.
The program’s own page ↗Pacifica Graduate Institute
Carpinteria and Santa Barbara$32,600 a year. Pacifica states plainly that its doctoral programs in Counseling Psychology are not APA-accredited. Its separate PsyD in CLINICAL Psychology is not enrolling — its own 2025-26 catalog says “currently not enrolling students in this program. There are no cohorts in coursework.” Three easily-confused depth doctorates run here; check which one you are reading about.
The program’s own page ↗Sofia University
Palo AltoAppears dormant and its own materials contradict each other: the catalog page says “this program is not accepting any new students for 2022–23” while the 2025–26 tuition table still carries rates for it. Ask before applying. Sofia is WSCUC-accredited and in good standing — an earlier report of a Notice of Concern was wrong.
The program’s own page ↗Closed, moved, or no longer offered
4These still turn up on directory sites, which is the reason to list them. A program you cannot apply to is not an option, and one that was never accredited does not become accredited by being listed next to ones that are.
Closed. The university's programs were absorbed into National University in 2021, and APA accreditation of the teach-out was withdrawn effective 30 September 2024. Students who finished under it graduated from an accredited program. The live successor is National University's own PsyD, separately accredited in March 2024.
Closed in the 2019 collapse. Its California graduates still appear in the Board's license counts years later, which is a fact about when people licensed, not evidence the school exists.
Discontinued. It has sat on Antioch's own inactive-programs list since the 2022–23 catalog and is absent from the 2025–26 one. It was never APA-accredited — Antioch's accreditation page lists its Santa Barbara clinical PsyD as “no programmatic/specialized accreditation granted” while its New England and Seattle programs are accredited. Antioch is still billing continuing students, which is what a teach-out looks like.
Relocated, not closed. The Irvine PsyD moved to Anaheim in spring 2021 and the Anaheim program is that program. There is no Chicago School PsyD in Irvine, and there never was one in San Diego.
Four schools whose PsyD no longer qualifies anyone for a California license
These are approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education but are not regionally accredited, and § 2914(b)(2)(A) requires regional accreditation. The pathway that used to accept them, § 2914(b)(4), expired on 1 January 2020, and the Board’s own list of them is now headed “Previous Approved Schools Accepted Prior to 2020.” There is a narrow grandfather clause at § 2914(b)(2)(B) for students who were already enrolled on 31 December 2016.
- Ryokan College — Los Angeles Still advertises a “Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (for licensure in California).” That claim reflects the rule before 2020.
- Professional School of Psychology — Sacramento
- The Reiss-Davis Graduate Center — Los Angeles
- San Diego University for Integrative Studies — San Diego
If you are looking at one of these, ask the Board directly before you pay anything. § 2914(b)(3): “The board shall make the final determination as to whether a degree meets the requirements of this subdivision.”
How this page was built
Nothing is ranked. There is no score and no best-of. Accreditation is a fact and it is used as a grouping, not as a verdict.
No tuition figure is estimated. Where a school publishes a per-unit rate but no total, this page shows the per-unit rate — multiplying it out and presenting the answer as the school’s would be inventing a number.
Accreditation status comes from APA, not from the schools. Read from APA’s quarterly Notices of Actions. California Baptist’s own site still described its program as on contingency after APA had moved it to full accreditation, which is exactly why.
MFT and LPCC are a different route entirely — different board, different statute, master’s level. Those are on the MFT programs page.
