California Public Colleges 102: The California State Universities
In California, college is complicated. Understand our 3 systems and how to get the best education out of each. Part 2: The California State University (CSU)
This is Part 2 in a 3-part series. Part 1 covers the California Community Colleges and Part 3 covers the University of California system.
California State Universities — California’s State University (CSU) system is a network of 23 universities spread all over the state. Each school is unique, and students who can leverage their strengths of these schools have an excellent chance of starting a solid career with relatively low or even no student debt burden.
Why Go: The CSUs provide an excellent education to a wide range of students at an affordable price. The CSUs focus on undergraduate teaching; only a few campuses confer doctorate degrees at all. The CSUs focus on bachelors-level instruction means that lower division class sizes tend to be smaller relative to the UCs and are more often taught by full-time tenured professors focused primarily on their classroom instruction. Even at the master’s level, because there aren’t PhD students around or a mandate for research, professors are able to give more attention to their curriculum development and their students. Honors programs at many schools provide unique experiences for high-performing students.
A CSU education is an especially good choice for “bachelors-to-career” majors, where a job is waiting on the other side of the bachelor’s (or master’s) degree. Majors like computer science and engineering are especially strong; in these fields, a CSUs reputation with businesses often rival and even surpass those of the UCs because they take a practical approach to these fields. CSUs are also known for their “fifth year” professional certificates like teaching and nursing. Many have strong environmental programs like forestry and conservation that are uncommon at UC schools. In these cases, the CSU degree often pays off in a great job with solid earnings and job security right after the bachelor’s degree.
In its student body, as the CSUs mission statement explains, the system “seeks out individuals with collegiate promise who face cultural, geographical, physical, educational, financial, or personal barriers to assist them in advancing to the highest educational levels they can reach.” As such, the diversity of experience, age, background, and goals at a CSU are vast. (I’ll never forget teaching my first English 1A class: I was in my early 20s, and my oldest student was in his 40s.) Three CSUs — East Bay, San Francisco, and San Jose State, rank in the top ten most diverse campuses in the region, and CSU campuses frequently rank in lists of colleges which create the most social mobility. Most campuses also have large student bodies, some near 30,000, and serve a high percentage of local residents. So while most have residence halls, most also have a high commuter population.
The CSUs emphasis on local students and on educational opportunity means that even students who live in dorms will meet a diverse population in age, background, and circumstance, providing a rich experience beyond the typical “college life.”
Caveats: If one can get such a great education on the cheap (base tuition for all campuses is $5,742), why wouldn’t everyone go? Frankly, I think more people should, but a student does “pay” for the lower price in a number of other ways. At some schools, classes can be hard to get, which slows down progress toward a degree. Currently, less than a third of CSU students manage to graduate in 4 years; about two-thirds graduate in 6 years. When calculating tuition costs, then, students should follow major plans carefully and plan for needing more than 4 years of funding to complete their degree.
Students who are looking for a more cohesive college experience, with more peers that are like them and fewer from the “real” world might find the CSU experience a bit too functional for their tastes. Those with community college experience may find the smaller CSUs to have a similar feel. Students who plan to seek a degree beyond a masters might also find the lack of PhD-level activity on campus disappointing. Because of the practical emphasis of the bachelor’s and even master’s degrees, a student looking to apply to a competitive master’s or PhD program after their time at a CSU may find that they need to do extra leg work to get themselves prepared for the jump.
Getting In: Conveniently, students complete just one application for the whole CSU system and then easily apply to multiple schools. Understanding that many of their students may not be able to move to go to school, they provide a preference for students within their service area, so local residents who could save money by commuting have a higher likelihood of admission at their local CSU.
For institutions that are meant to serve the widest range of students, one would expect that CSU admissions rates would be high and their entry requirements fairly low. While broadly true, admissions at the top CSUs have grown fierce. Their systemwide entrance requirements still fall on a basic matrix of GPA to SAT scores, but this simple, open-access formula has meant that many campuses are facing impacted programs — programs with more eligible students than there is room. Seven campuses (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Fresno State, CSU Fullerton, Cal State LA, CSU Long Beach, San Diego State University, San José State) have declared that the entire campus is impacted — too many eligible students want to attend than the schools can accept.
What does this mean for admission? The excess of qualified applicants has forced schools to find ways to raise the bar. Students are now ranked on the eligibility scale, so the higher their GPA/SAT score combined, the greater the likelihood a student will get in. Some campuses and programs also include criteria similar to the UC system. Cal Poly, for example, explains that
Beyond the basic qualifications for the California State University, Cal Poly considers other factors for admission deemed important to the campus and does so in an objective format. In fact, it is impossible to predict a candidate’s chances of admission by looking at the academic record alone….When we review your application, we consider:
— Your intended program of study (the major to which the application is made)
— Your college-preparatory courses in secondary school
— GPA earned in college-preparatory courses
— Standardized test scores
— Your extra-curricular activities and work experience
Cal Poly also considers grades from 9th grade in their GPA calculation while most campuses (even UCs) only use grades from 10th-11th. Currently, Cal Poly’s admission rate is 34%, even lower than some of the UC campuses. (Most CSUs are closer to 50% and even higher.)
In addition to knowing which programs are strongest at which schools, any student interested in CSUs must also consider impaction when choosing their campuses.
In light of theses trends, CSU is taking steps to keep its doors open to as many students as possible. They partner with the community college system to serve as many transfer students as possible (a win-win for students, who save money on general education courses, and the colleges, as this alleviates some of the bottleneck at the freshman level).
Finally, as part of the CSUs “Impaction and Redirection” program, an eligible student who is denied admission to an impacted campus will be offered a spot at another, non-impacted CSU without having to complete a new application. Students will have a limited time to accept the redirected admission offer.
For California students seeking a “career-ready” bachelor’s degree in a student-focused environment with a diverse student body, California’s CSUs are an excellent choice.
To end on a personal note, I attended a California CSU, San Jose State (long years ago). Thanks to the encouragement of a high school teacher, I applied for and was accepted to the humanities honors program, where I met the first of many experienced professors who enjoyed their fields of study and enjoyed teaching. During my bachelor’s degree, I was encouraged to take a master’s level class, which gave me the confidence to complete my master’s degree while I earned my teaching credential; in both programs, I was given teaching opportunities which bolstered my “new teacher” resume. I left with three degrees — a bachelor’s and two minors, a master’s degree, and a teaching credential in three subjects — three years of teaching experience, and almost no debt.
I do not think I would have had so many doors open to me at a more competitive, research- or PhD-focused school. I certainly wouldn’t have made a penny more when I started my teaching career — regardless of what I had spent on my degrees. Like a lot of CSU students, I graduated college with a great education, strong letters of recommendation from professors who knew me well, and solid work experience. For a student seeking a clear launching pad into their careers (like I was), a CSU is a perfect fit.
To learn more about California’s college systems, read Part 1: California Community Colleges and Part 3: The University of California.
Kelly Mogilefsky is a high school English and AVID teacher in a Middle College Program and an Independent Educational Consultant. Learn more about her services at Mogilefsky Consulting.
