Why It Matters

Keeping the Human in the Loop

An affordable, local bachelor’s degree that prepares Fullerton College students to lead the responsible use of AI in organizations: built on the college’s largest major, endorsed by the regional labor market, and designed by faculty across disciplines.

Explore the Program See Student Costs
+$23KMedian yearly earnings with a bachelor’s vs. an associate degree
$6,280Junior and senior years at FC, vs. about $13,676 for two years of CSU tuition
#1Business Administration is FC’s largest major
Oct. 2026CCCCO provisional approval

Why a bachelor’s matters here

  • In 2025, median weekly earnings were $1,578 with a bachelor’s degree and $1,135 with an associate degree: about $23,000 more per year.
  • The median single-family home in Orange County sold for $1,452,500 in August 2026 ($901,420 statewide).
  • The associate degree opens the door; the bachelor’s is what lets graduates be hired into leadership roles, or build a business that can grow, in the region.

Closing the bachelor’s gap

  • In Orange County, 17.5% of Hispanic or Latina/o/x adults hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 49.5% of White adults and 57.4% of Asian adults.
  • 58.5% of Fullerton College students identify as Hispanic or Latina/o/x, and 34% report that their parents did not attend college.
  • The degree supports the college’s strategic goal to equitably increase the share of graduates earning a living wage.

Who It Serves

Two kinds of students, one pathway.

New to College

Students coming straight from high school can plan a four-year degree at Fullerton College from their first semester. 35.6% of FC students are under 20, up from 28.1% in 2020-21.

Returning Learners

Working adults who need to refine their skills and lead AI adoption in their jobs or their own businesses. About 30% of FC students are 25 or older.

Business Majors Today

2,708 Business Administration majors in 2024-25, up 29% in two years; with Business Management and Accounting, about 4,100 business majors, or 1 in 7 students.

Careers

Among Orange County’s largest bachelor’s-level careers.

Occupation (Orange County)Jobs (2024)Median hourlyAbout per year
General and Operations Managers30,714$60.66$126,000
Project Management Specialists13,056$50.33$105,000
Management Analysts15,164$49.69$103,000
Business Operations Specialists15,214$38.15$79,000
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists11,472$37.21$77,000

The first three are the program’s target occupations. Emerging roles include AI adoption lead, AI operations manager, AI governance and compliance analyst, and digital transformation project manager, and some graduates will start their own businesses. By comparison, the top associate-level jobs in Orange County pay a median of $20 to $53 an hour.

What Makes It Different

California’s AI degrees teach students to build AI or analyze it. This one teaches them to lead it.

Build

UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara: computer science and engineering.

Analyze

San Diego State: AI’s impact on society.

Lead

Fullerton College: managers, project leads, and analysts who guide AI adoption responsibly, with the CCCCO HUMANS principles taught as required content.

Built across disciplines

  • Business: BUS 300, 310, 340, 350, 360, 371, 380, and the two-semester capstone, BUS 495A–B.
  • Mathematics: MATH 320 F and MATH 321 F, Quantitative Reasoning in the Age of AI.
  • Computer Information Systems: CIS 370 F.
  • English and Philosophy: ENGL 301 F and PHIL 361 F as upper-division general education.

An open door for other programs

  • AI belongs in every discipline. Other departments can build their own AI programs, such as an AI studio animation program, as long as they do not duplicate this one.
  • Fullerton College already offers a bachelor’s degree in Drone and Autonomous Systems; this would be the second.
  • Students who start at Fullerton College because a bachelor’s is offered here strengthen enrollment across the college.

How We Got Here

Five pieces of groundwork led to the state’s provisional approval.

Business Faculty

Designed by Business Management faculty, with partner faculty in Mathematics, CIS, English, and Philosophy.

Advisory Board

Community and industry members reviewed the outcomes and helped shape the curriculum.

Labor Market Report

The Orange County Center of Excellence issued a positive labor market endorsement on May 8, 2026. See the data.

Education Partners

Letters of support from Placentia-Yorba Linda USD, Santa Ana USD, North Orange County ROP, and the Anaheim, Orange County, and Santa Ana workforce development boards.

Regional Consortium

The Orange County Regional Consortium recommended the degree on June 16, 2026.

Next: Local Approval

The Chancellor’s Office granted provisional approval on October 2, 2026. Local review by the Curriculum Committee, Faculty Senate, and NOCCCD Board comes next. See the timeline.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Education Pays (2025 data); California Association of REALTORS®, August 2026 home sales report; Fullerton College Institutional Effectiveness Report 2024-25 (U.S. Census ACS 2024; NOCCCD internal data; Lightcast, 2024 jobs and median hourly earnings; annual figures = hourly × 2,080); Orange County Center of Excellence Labor Market Assessment (May 2026); OCRC approved minutes (June 16, 2026); CSU and UCOP 2026-27 tuition and fees.