The California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education is a unit of the California Department of Consumer Affairs

California Department of Consumer Affairs

The California Department of Consumer Affairs is a department under the California State and Consumer Services Agency. DCA's stated mission is to serve the interests of California's consumers by ensuring a standard of professionalism in key industries and promoting informed consumer practices...

 charged with regulation of private

Private university

Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...

 postsecondary educational institutions operating in the state of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The agency's main focus is on identifying diploma mill

Diploma mill

A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...

s.

The Bureau was established by Assembly Bill 48, the Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, which was signed into law on October 11, 2009. The new Bureau, which began operation on January 1, 2010, replaced the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education

California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education

The California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education was a unit of the California Department of Consumer Affairs whose purpose was to protect students by establishing academic standards for of private institutions of higher education in California...

, which ceased operation on July 1, 2007, when the legislative authority for its creation expired.