Profile: Chaffey College - Career Center

Chaffey College, one of the first colleges to be established in California, is a two-year public community college situated in an area of natural and tranquil beauty in Southern California. Its campus occupies 200 acres of rolling lawns and native foliage in the foothills of the majestic San Gabriel mountains. Founded in 1883 as a private college, Chaffey has been a publicly funded college since1916 and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Chaffey is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges, the Community College League of California, Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC), and is approved by the Office of Private Post-Secondary Education for Veterans Benefits. Chaffey College represents the vision of George and William Chaffey, who founded the City of Ontario in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Recognizing the need for an institution of higher learning, the Chaffey brothers donated land and established an endowment for a private college known as the Chaffey College of Agriculture of the University of Southern California. On March 17,1883, the cornerstone of the college was laid at Fourth and Euclid in Ontario. The college closed for a brief period in the early 1900s due to meager financial resources and its building was occupied by the new Ontario High School. In 1906 the Chaffey endowment was legally separated from the University of Southern California and the reorganized Chaffey Union High School District became the beneficiary of the College Trust. In 1916 the Chaffey Junior College of Agriculture was added as a postgraduate department to the high school. A separate junior college district was created in 1922 and in 1957 bonds were approved in support of a complete separation of the high school and college facilities. Property was acquired in Alta Loma and a long-anticipated new college opened its doors in the spring of 1960. Today, with this wealth of tradition and experience, Chaffey is proud to continue providing excellent programming in an atmosphere conducive to learning.