American Jewish University

About American Jewish University

American Jewish University is an active, WSCUC-accredited nonprofit institution whose degree education is organized around two specialized schools. The Masor School for Jewish Education and Leadership serves early-childhood educators and Jewish communal professionals through bachelor’s-completion, master’s, doctoral, certificate, and professional-learning options. The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies combines a Master of Arts in Rabbinic Studies with preparation for rabbinic ordination. AJU also runs non-degree Jewish learning, youth, camp, retreat, and community programs; applicants should distinguish those activities from its accredited degree offerings. The institution’s history has two principal strands. The University of Judaism opened in Los Angeles in 1947, while the Brandeis Camp Institute had been established in 1941 and settled permanently at its Simi Hills property in 1947. The organizations merged in 2007 to create American Jewish University. In 2025, WSCUC approved relocation of AJU’s main campus to the Brandeis-Bardin Campus. WSCUC currently records that location as active and lists the Ziegler School in Beverly Hills as an active additional location. AJU is best evaluated as a small, professionally oriented and religiously engaged institution rather than a comprehensive undergraduate university. Its present degree list concentrates on early-childhood education, special education and inclusion, Jewish educational or communal leadership, business administration, and rabbinic studies. Delivery varies substantially: WSCUC lists many newer education and business programs as distance education, while rabbinic studies is on-site. Prospective students should therefore compare program modality, professional prerequisites, fieldwork, residency obligations, and religious expectations at the school level.

Admission is program-specific, and AJU does not present a single general-entry route resembling a comprehensive undergraduate university. The BA in Early Childhood Education is a completion program: applicants must hold an associate degree from a regionally accredited institution or have completed 60 semester units elsewhere. Approximately 34 semester units, or 51 quarter units, must meet IGETC expectations. Required materials include an application, two short responses, official transcripts, and a $50 application fee. Transfer credit is formally evaluated after admission and confirmed enrollment. Masor master’s applicants need an accredited bachelor’s degree and English proficiency. The Early Childhood Education MAEd also requires six prior early-childhood-education units, and students must work at least 10 hours weekly in an early-childhood setting while enrolled. The special-education and inclusion MAEd likewise requires at least 10 hours of weekly employment in such a setting. Applications use transcripts, essays, recommendations, and a $50 fee; an interview may be required for the Early Childhood Education MAEd. Doctoral applicants need an appropriate master’s degree, English proficiency, and at least three years of relevant professional or leadership experience. Their applications include transcripts, a résumé or CV, recommendations, essays, and a fee. International academic records not issued in English require notarized translations. Ziegler uses a separate admissions process suited to rabbinic formation, so candidates should contact that school directly rather than relying on Masor requirements. No current universal deadline is stated on the cited Masor page; applicants should verify cohort availability and dates before applying.

AJU’s current degree portfolio is narrow and career-specific. The Masor School offers a Bachelor of Arts completion degree in Early Childhood Education, Master of Arts in Education programs in Early Childhood Education and in Early Childhood Special Education and Inclusion, and Doctor of Education programs in Early Childhood Education Leadership and in Jewish Education and Communal Leadership. WSCUC also lists an approved distance-education MBA. The Ziegler School offers a Master of Arts in Rabbinic Studies alongside rabbinic ordination. The BA is not a first-year-entry, four-year undergraduate program. It is an online completion curriculum for students bringing an associate degree or 60 prior semester units. AJU describes it as 60 additional semester units over six fall, spring, and summer terms, with a scheduled weekly online meeting. Fieldwork is embedded each semester, connecting child-development, assessment, inclusion, literacy, STEM, and learning-environment coursework with practice in early-childhood settings. The graduate education programs are also designed around professional application. The MAEd pathways require or strongly emphasize work in an early-childhood setting, while the EdD programs target experienced educators or communal leaders. Both listed doctorates include a five-day, first-year residency in Los Angeles, so their online format is not entirely location-free. Ziegler is structurally different: it is an on-site formation program combining classical Jewish texts, contemporary communal leadership, mentorship, pastoral preparation, spiritual practice, and religious-skill expectations. Students should use the school-specific curriculum pages and current catalog when planning. AJU’s broader website includes certificates, youth courses, conversion education, camps, and public learning, but these should not be confused with bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees.

Key Highlights

• WSCUC lists AJU as an active, accredited nonprofit institution with no related sponsoring entity.
• The current institution was formed in 2007 from the University of Judaism and Brandeis-Bardin Institute.
• The active main campus is at Brandeis-Bardin, with an active Ziegler School location in Beverly Hills.
• AJU combines accredited degrees with separate non-degree Jewish learning, camp, and community programs.

Student Life & Environment

Student experience differs considerably by program. Online Masor students should expect academic life to center on scheduled classes, cohort relationships, fieldwork, faculty advising, and digital systems rather than daily residence on a traditional campus. A computer or laptop is required for AJU distance-education programs. New-student orientation is held before the fall and spring semesters, is mandatory, and includes academic information, introductions to staff, small-class learning, and community-building activities. AJU provides academic advising within its schools and coordinates disability accommodations. Degree-seeking Masor and Ziegler students in the United States have access to TimelyCare virtual health and well-being services at no additional cost. AJU states that it does not employ its own staff psychologists; students needing counseling are directed to outside partners, including TimelyCare and Maple Counseling Services. That distinction may matter to applicants seeking extensive on-campus health provision. The Brandeis-Bardin Campus supports AJU’s wider experiential mission through retreats, cultural programs, Camp Alonim, and the Brandeis Camp Institute. Its published amenities include communal kosher dining, hiking trails, athletic fields, arts spaces, horseback riding, and ropes courses. These features describe the retreat campus, however, and should not be assumed to function as everyday facilities for every online or Beverly Hills-based degree student. Applicants should ask their school how often their program gathers there and whether housing is attached to their specific course of study.

Location & Surroundings

AJU’s official geography changed recently. WSCUC approved the relocation of the main campus in August 2025 and now identifies it as 1101 Peppertree Lane, Brandeis, California, at the Brandeis-Bardin Campus in the Simi Hills. AJU describes the property as approximately 30 miles northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. It is a retreat-like setting used for Jewish experiential education, camps, conferences, cultural activity, and institutional programs rather than a conventional central-city campus. The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies operates from an active additional location at 350 South Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. AJU’s administrative offices are in Sherman Oaks. Students therefore should not treat “Los Angeles” as a single-campus address: where they study or attend required activities depends on the school and program. Many Masor degrees are delivered online, although the EdD programs require a short Los Angeles residency and the BA includes practice-based fieldwork where students are located. Prospective students considering travel or relocation should confirm the exact venue for classes, orientation, residency sessions, and ceremonies. The Brandeis-Bardin setting is separated from central Los Angeles, while the Beverly Hills and Sherman Oaks sites place other university functions within the metropolitan area.

Costs & Career Outcomes

AJU prices degrees by program and entering cohort rather than publishing one institution-wide tuition figure. On the official fee schedule available in August 2026, the new Class of 2028 BA completion cohort is listed at $3,850 per semester for six semesters, or $23,100 in total program tuition. New Class of 2028 MAEd cohorts are listed at $12,558 per semester for five semesters, totaling $62,790. Fall 2026 EdD cohorts in either Early Childhood Education Leadership or Jewish Education and Communal Leadership are listed at $6,278 per semester for eight semesters, totaling $50,220. The schedule also lists application, enrollment-deposit, registration, and doctoral student fees, so the stated program tuition is not necessarily the full cost of attendance. For the Master of Arts in Rabbinic Studies, the published full-time band of 6–23 units costs $4,120 per semester, or $8,240 per year; other loads are charged per unit. AJU offers payment plans. Its latest displayed comprehensive cost-of-attendance budgets are labeled 2025–2026 rather than 2026–2027, so applicants should request the newer budget and clarify housing, travel, books, residency, and fieldwork expenses before committing. Financial aid includes scholarships, need-based grants requiring the FAFSA, and AJU grants, but awards depend on individual eligibility. Career preparation is embedded in the curriculum rather than supported by published salary or placement claims. The BA uses semester-by-semester fieldwork; MAEd applicants remain employed in early-childhood settings; EdD programs address instructional, organizational, and systems leadership; and Ziegler prepares students for rabbinic and communal roles. These pathways are strongest for applicants already committed to those fields. AJU does not provide sufficiently current, program-level earnings or placement data on the cited pages to support outcome projections.