THOUSAND OAKS, CA. – California Lutheran University is expanding its popular program that provides a private school education at a public school price to include students accepted at University of California, San Diego, for the 2011-2012 academic year.

The CLU Guarantee Scholarship: Private Education, Public Price allows incoming students who are also admitted to one of five UC schools to attend CLU for the cost of attending the public university. The other universities are UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis and UC Berkeley. The innovative program, which has garnered national media attention, started with incoming freshmen during the 2008-2009 year and later expanded to include transfer students.

The savings on tuition, books and living expenses for students who entered this fall is $16,160. This is the difference in the price for full-time residential students attending CLU, which is $46,192, and the average price of attending the four state universities, which is $30,032. The 2011-2012 scholarship award amount will be announced in spring after the universities have updated their tuition and fees.

The CLU Guarantee Scholarship is open to all students applying for the traditional undergraduate program and the Adult Degree Evening Program. It has no income or residency requirements. Students can also receive federal, state and institutional aid based on need to further reduce the cost of attending CLU.

If students make satisfactory academic progress and meet GPA requirements, they can renew the scholarship each year. The amount will increase every year if the cost of attendance goes up.

The number of students receiving CLU Guarantee Scholarships jumped from 56 last year to 99 for 2010-2011. The scholarships awarded for this year total more than $1.6 million.

Of the current recipients, 46 percent are first-generation college students and 40 percent identify themselves as Latino. Two come from out of state. Retention rates among recipients are extremely high, with more than 90 percent still enrolled at CLU.

The program is designed to show students who thought that they could only afford a public university that a private school education is within reach. It provides more students with the opportunity to enjoy the high-quality education, small class sizes and experience of working closely with faculty that a small private university like CLU offers.

For more information, visit http://www.callutheran.edu/cluguarantee or contact the Office of Undergraduate Admission at (877) 258-3678 or admissions@callutheran.edu.