Palomar College is a public community college in San Diego County, California. The main campus is in San Marcos and three centers and four education sites are located elsewhere throughout north San Diego County. History Palomar College opened its doors on September 23, 1946, on the Vista High School campus with nine faculty members and exactly 100 students enrolled.
Palomar College moved from Vista to its current main campus in San Marcos in September 1950.
By 1989, the college's enrollment was around 24,000 students, and it operated seven satellite centers throughout North San Diego County.
In November 2006, voters approved Proposition M, a $694 million bond measure to fund campus improvements and expansion. The measure supported the development of additional education centers in Rancho Bernardo and Fallbrook, both of which opened in June 2018.
Today, Palomar College has a 200-plus-acre main campus and is the largest single community college district in San Diego County. According to Palomar College About Page, 29,000 students currently attend Palomar college, split between the main campus in San Marcos, the three education centers in Escondido, Fallbrook, and Rancho Bernardo, and several other additional education sites all within San Diego County.
In 2019, Palomar College faced criticism over plans to construct a presidential office suite on the top floor of its newly built Library/Learning Resource Center. The project was funded through Measure M, a $694 million bond measure approved by voters in 2006 for college construction and facility improvements. Several faculty members and two members of the five-member governing board questioned the expense and the level of oversight surrounding the project. A Palomar professor filed a lawsuit against the Palomar Community College District under the California Public Records Act, seeking records related to the presidential suite and the installation of its restroom.
Later that same year, a review by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) found that the Palomar Community College District had an estimated structural deficit of $11.75 million for the 2019–20 fiscal year. The report also found that 96.2 percent of the district's ongoing unrestricted revenue was being spent on salaries and benefits, leaving the district with little flexibility to address its deficit. State officials warned that Palomar could run out of reserves within two years and might need to borrow about $6.5 million to remain financially stable.
Concerns about Blake's leadership were also growing among faculty. In October 2019, faculty voted "no confidence" in Blake. Two months later, the college's governing board placed Blake on paid administrative leave while an investigation was pending. They reached a separation agreement in February 2020 and Blake resigned in exchange for over $600,000.
In March 2020, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office assigned a fiscal monitor to Palomar to oversee the district's financial recovery. At the time, Palomar was one of only two community college districts in the state under this type of monitoring. The monitor was brought in to review the district's finances and its efforts to address the problems identified by FCMAT.
In July 2022, Moody's Investors Service affirmed Palomar's Aa2 bond rating and revised its outlook from negative to stable, citing improvements in the district's fiscal management and policies. In January 2024, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges determined that Palomar had corrected deficiencies identified during its 2022 evaluation and reaffirmed the college's accreditation for the remainder of its accreditation cycle.
In April 2025, the Palomar Community College District Governing Board voted 3–2 to discontinue the practice of reading the college's Indigenous Land acknowledgement at board meetings. Trustees Jacqueline Kaiser, Yvette Acosta, and Holly Hamilton-Bleakley voted to end the practice, while Roberto Rodriguez and Judy Patacsil voted to retain it.
In October 2025, the board repealed Board Policy 3000, an anti-racism policy adopted in 2021. The five elected trustees voted along the same 3–2 division, with Kaiser, Acosta, and Hamilton-Bleakley supporting the repeal and Rodriguez and Patacsil opposing it.
The trustees had received support from differing political and labor organizations in their respective elections. Jacqueline Kaiser was listed in a 2022 voter guide published by The RMNNT, while Yvette Acosta and Holly Hamilton-Bleakley were listed in the organization's 2024 general-election guide. The RMNNT has been described as a San Diego conservative political organization focused on voter education and candidate training.... Judy Patacsil received endorsements during her 2022 campaign from Democratic clubs and organized labor, including the Poway Democratic Club and AFT Guild, while Roberto Rodriguez was endorsed for his 2024 reelection by the Palomar Faculty Federation and AFT Guild....
In December 2025, the Palomar Faculty Federation issued a resolution of no confidence in Kaiser, Acosta, and Hamilton-Bleakley, while the Council of Classified Employees issued a separate resolution of no confidence in Kaiser and Acosta.
The last permanent president was Star Rivera-Lacey who departed in November 2025. Palomar College is currently led by interim president Tina Recalde. Recalde led a cross-campus team that developed Palomar's first bachelor's degree program, focused on building performance and environmental design.
Landmarks
"P" Mountain
A prominent landmark of the San Marcos campus is a large white letter "P" located on the hillside above the college, which remains visible from miles away.
The monument was built in the fall of 1950 by a volunteer group of students led by alumnus Bill Tipton. The students hiked up the hillside carrying shovels, hoes, and pickaxes to clear the terrain and assemble the letter using white-painted rocks. They successfully completed the project despite the area being heavily infested with rattlesnakes at the time.
In May 2001, the Palomar College Governing Board accepted a permanent trail easement to the landmark, securing the college's legal right to maintain the letter in perpetuity amidst nearby residential land development.
Campuses and education sites Palomar College has its main campus in San Marcos and education centers in Escondido, Fallbrook, and Rancho Bernardo.
Palomar College also has education sites at Camp Pendleton, the Ramona Community Campus, Ramona High School, and a Public Safety Training Center in San Marcos.
Camp Pendleton Palomar College has a site on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, offering courses to active-duty service members, veterans, military spouses, and other students on base.
Palomar also hosts free hands-on assistance on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at the School of Infantry Base Education Center. Services include applying for college, registering for classes, help with Tuition Assistance and FAFSA applications, and other student support services.
Academics
Palomar College offers 250 associate degree and certificate programs as well as programs for students wishing to transfer to many different four-year universities, including institutions in the University of California and California State University systems. Palomar College currently offers 31 Associate Degree for Transfer programs.
These programs are organized into five academic divisions: Arts, Media, Business Administration Career, Technical and Extended Education Languages and Literature Mathematics and The Natural and Health Sciences Social and Behavioral Sciences
In addition, Palomar College and other local adult schools in North County work collaboratively and sometimes separately to leverage services and resources to better serve adult education students in the areas of Adult Basic Education, ESL, GED, HISET, high school diploma, and post-secondary education and vocational training.
Palomar College is the lead member of the Education to Career Network of North San Diego County. The Education to Career Network (ETCN) is an adult education association in North San Diego County that provides free or low-cost training, certification programs, and academic courses to help adults transition to higher education or enter the workforce. ETCN is one of 71 consortia in the state of California and is funded by the California Adult Education Program. Members of the ETCN consortium are Escondido Adult School, Palomar College, Poway Adult School, Ramona Adult School, San Marcos Adult School, and Vista Adult School.
In fall 2026, Palomar College began offering its first bachelor's degree, a Bachelor of Science in Building Performance and Environmental Design. The fall 2026 semester marked the first time that Palomar College offered a baccalaureate degree, with 24 students in the first group. The program costs students roughly $15,000 for the two-year upper-division portion of the degree.
Basic Police Academy Palomar College offers a Basic Police Academy. In 2018, the program was recognized as a California Community Colleges Strong Workforce Gold Star program. One hundred percent of students were employed in a job similar to their field of study, 88 percent earned the regional living wage, and students had a 54 percent increase in earnings.
The academy operates as an extended-format training program designed to allow recruits to complete police academy training while maintaining full-time employment. The full program is presented over approximately 12 months and consists of 1,000 hours of training. The Basic Police Academy program is certified by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).
The academy was redesigned in 2016 as a modular training program. Its curriculum is divided into Module III, Module II, and Module I, which are completed in descending order. Completion of Module III meets the training requirements for appointment as a Level III reserve peace officer; completion of Modules III and II meets the requirements for appointment as a Level II reserve peace officer; and completion of all three modules meets the academy training requirements for appointment as a Level I reserve peace officer or employment as a full-time sworn peace officer in California.
Recruits who complete the full academy receive 38 college credits. The units may be applied toward an associate degree in Administration of Justice, and students who complete all three modules are eligible to apply for the Basic Police Academy Certificate of Achievement. Classes are generally held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings and on Saturdays, with some additional weekend training scheduled as required.
Unlike the intensive full-time format used by the San Diego Regional Public Safety Training Institute at Miramar College, Palomar's academy uses a format conducted primarily during evenings and weekends.
Student Resources Palomar College offers basic needs support, including free groceries and community housing resources, primarily centered at the Palomar College Basic Needs office on the San Marcos campus.
For housing, students can get resources from the Student Life and Leadership Quick Guide, which connects students with local housing agencies.
For grocery resources, students can use the Food and Nutrition Center, which provides enrolled students with free groceries and other essential resources. CalFresh support is also available. Staff can help students determine their eligibility, assist with their application, answer questions about required documents, and provide guidance throughout the application process.
Dreamer Success Program