Merritt College Nutrition Degree Programs

Nutrition and Dietetics Department, Division II (Math, Science, Technology and Allied Health) • Oakland, CA • Campus (Format Not Confirmed) • $46/Unit (California Resident Enrollment Fee)

Merritt College offers 3 nutrition credentials, and none leads to the RD/RDN credential:

  • A.S., Dietetic Technology (an ACEND Dietetic Technician Program leading toward the DTR credential)
  • AS-T, Nutrition and Dietetics (a statewide transfer degree to the CSU)
  • Dietary Manager Certificate of Achievement (19 units, the Dietetic Service Supervisor route to the Certified Dietary Manager exam)

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
A.S. Dietetic TechnologyAbout $1,540/yr for 30 units in enrollment and student fees (2026-27, derived)Catalog: about 4 semesters; program page: 2.5 years60
AS-T Nutrition and DieteticsSame per-unit fees2 years60
Dietary Manager Certificate$46 per unit for 19 units, about $874 in enrollment feesNot clearly stated19

Merritt’s differentiator is price: California residents pay a $46 per unit state enrollment fee, so a year of study costs roughly $1,540 including student fees. It trains dietetic technicians who work under a registered dietitian’s supervision, and the only RD route is to transfer into a bachelor’s program and later complete a dietetic internship and graduate degree elsewhere.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
FormatNot stated on Merritt’s official pages. A third-party listing says in person; supervised practice is recurring weekly in-person work at off-site facilities, so Hybrid is defensible. This profile lists Campus pending Merritt’s official schedule
Credit HoursA.S.: 60 (the program page says 38 major plus 22 general education, the catalog 35 plus 21 plus 4 electives); AS-T: 60; Dietary Manager certificate: 19
ACEND AccreditationYes — a Dietetic Technician Program. ACEND recorded full and continued accreditation in July 2019, continued full accreditation after a progress report in April 2020, full and continued accreditation after a site visit in January 2023, a reduced term in July 2023 and January 2024, and continued accreditation after an interim or progress report in July 2024. No entries appear in 2021, 2022, 2025, or 2026. A term end date was not found
RD/RDN EligibilityNo. Merritt’s credential is the Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR). The RD route needs a bachelor’s degree, a graduate degree, and an accredited internship
Supervised PracticeAt least 450 unpaid hours (150 per level, three levels), at Bay Area clinical, community, foodservice, and management sites; students may commute up to 90 minutes each way
Reported OutcomesNo results published; targets of at least 70% employed in the field within a year and a 70% first-time exam pass rate are listed, and data is available from the program director
AdmissionsOpen college admission; the program itself is competitive, with an application, an introductory meeting, ServSafe, TB clearance, a background check, and a tiered priority ranking with a waiting list. Cohort size not found
TuitionCalifornia resident enrollment fee $46 per unit; non-resident $401 per unit (2026-27); plus about $23 health, $4 campus, and $53 transportation fees per semester
Institutional AccreditationACCJC (Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges); no sanction currently

Associate of Science, Dietetic Technology

The estimated cost is about $1,540 for a resident taking 30 units over fall and spring (2026-27): $1,380 in enrollment fees, $46 health, $8 campus, and $106 transportation fees, excluding parking, books, and exam fees. A non-resident pays about $13,570. The degree is 60 units.

Sequence and Supervised Practice

  • Level A (NUTR 70A and 71A) comes first and doubles as the Dietary Manager certificate; its prerequisites are five nutrition and food courses at a C or better
  • Level B (clinical) runs in fall and Level C (community) in spring, and Level C can be taken first
  • The in-house Dietetic Technology Culmination Exam must be passed with 80% or higher before the verification statement is issued; graduates then apply for the national registration exam
  • Students with a DPD verification statement can go straight into the supervised-practice levels
You Should Know

ACEND placed Merritt’s program on a reduced term in July 2023 and January 2024 before continuing accreditation in July 2024. A third-party listing shows a term ending June 30, 2030, which sits oddly with that history and was not verified. Merritt’s own pages use the credential name DTR; the NDTR wording appears only in a student testimonial. Its program page also places a heading about becoming a registered dietitian above text that leads only to the DTR, which can mislead.

Merritt’s pages disagree on the degree’s size (38 or 35 major units), its length (4 semesters, 2.5 years, or 9 to 12 months when levels run concurrently), and an internal catalog line citing 18 major units. The handbook also describes a 14-unit Certificate of Achievement in Dietetic Technology for degree holders that appears in neither the catalog nor on the program page.

Admissions

  • Introductory meetings are held in late April for fall and late November or early December for spring
  • Priority is tiered, with veterans and preceptors first and GPA ranking within tiers; Merritt students are given priority
  • A background check is required, with no felony or misdemeanor convictions and a review panel for exceptions

Associate in Science for Transfer, Nutrition and Dietetics

This 60-unit statewide transfer degree has 29 to 30 major units (biology, general chemistry, introductory nutrition, introductory nutrition science, and psychology, plus two electives from chemistry, statistics, and biology) alongside Cal-GETC. It leads to CSU transfer under California’s statewide transfer program, not to a named, dated agreement with any dietetics program, and none was found. Merritt’s catalog says the RD route needs a bachelor’s degree and then a dietetic internship.

Dietary Manager Certificate of Achievement

The 19-unit certificate (the Dietetic Service Supervisor route) qualifies graduates to sit the national Certified Dietary Manager exam. Merritt’s brochure cites an approximately 90% pass rate in the Dietary Manager column, with no year and no clear link to the DTR exam, so it should not be attributed to the dietetic technician program.

Tuition

Peralta Community College District charges a state enrollment fee per unit, with student fees per semester; the rates below are from its live fees page and calculators.

  • California resident enrollment fee: $46 per unit in 2025-26 and 2026-27
  • Non-resident and international: $400 per unit (2025-26) and $401 (2026-27) in tuition, on top of the $46 enrollment fee
  • Per-semester fees: health $23, campus center and representation $4, and transportation $50 (2025-26) or $53 (2026-27)
  • Thirty units in 2026-27: about $1,540 resident and $13,570 non-resident, excluding parking ($29 to $40 a semester, optional), books, and exam fees

Be aware that:

Peralta’s 2025-26 cost-of-attendance sheet uses a non-resident rate that does not match its fee pages, so this profile relies on the fee pages. Supervised practice adds costs such as a background check, fingerprinting, and a drug screen. Spring 2027 rates are not yet published.

Official figures are on Peralta’s fees and payment page.

Why Choose This Nutrition Program?

Best suited for Bay Area residents who want a technician credential at community college prices, or a low-cost start toward a bachelor’s in dietetics.

Students wanting a technician credential can finish an accredited A.S. with 450 supervised-practice hours for roughly $1,500 a year in fees.

Students planning to become dietitians can take the AS-T and transfer into a CSU dietetics program, then complete the bachelor’s, graduate degree, and internship.

The honest trade-off is status and clarity: ACEND placed the program on a reduced term in 2023 and 2024, no outcome results or cohort size are published, and the delivery format is not confirmed.

Accreditation

Merritt College is institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). Its sanction history includes probation in January 2020, deferred action in February 2021, probation continued in June 2021, and a warning in January 2022, before reaffirmation in January 2023 with no sanction since. ACCJC accepted a midterm report in June 2025 and moved Peralta’s next review to spring 2029 with a focused site visit that fall.

ACEND accredits Merritt’s Dietetic Technology program as a Dietetic Technician Program, with the decisions listed above including reduced terms in 2023 and 2024. This covers only the A.S.; the AS-T and the Dietary Manager certificate are not ACEND programs. Graduates are prepared for the DTR credential, not the RD/RDN credential, and cannot sit the dietitian exam on this degree.

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