Establish what programs and curricula your career school will offer. Career or trade schools train in everything from pharmaceutical technology to medical billing to cosmetology to acupuncture. Make sure you can provide the qualified instructors, environment and equipment to teach the programs.
Obtain accreditation by a nationally recognized accrediting agency. The U.S. has no centralized authority to control career schools, so the practice of accreditation arose to ensure a basic level of educational quality in these institutions. The U.S. Department of Education has a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies that accredit entire institutions, specific programs or curricula within them. Accrediting agencies require an institutional self-evaluation as well as conduct on-site visits and reviews. An institution may get an approval to operate from the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) based on its accreditation, though it must still meet the minimum requirements of the BPPE.
Create a School Performance Fact Sheet and organize your school's administration. The BPPE requires that every career school maintain written enrollment agreements from each student. In addition, each student must receive the institution's catalog and a School Performance Fact Sheet, which must include the institution's completion and placement rates, license examination passage rates and salary data for the career in which the institution offers training.
Submit application fees to the BPPE. The BPPE seeks to recover the cost of oversight and review of private career schools by charging annual fees. The application fee for an approval to operate by the BPPE is $5,000, though the fee for approval by means of accreditation is $750. Renewal fees are $3,500, and $500 for an accredited institution. In addition, an institutional fee equal to three-quarters of one percent of yearly revenue is paid to the BPPE annually, though this fee may not exceed $25,000.