Cal State University sets first-year enrollment record

First-year student enrollment at California State University reached an all-time high this fall despite the nationwide blunder with financial aid applications.

The university system said while enrollment data won’t be finalized until November, preliminary data for 2024 revealed an overall enrollment increase of 2% from 2023 and showed more than 68,500 first-time, first-year students enrolled across the university’s 23 campuses.

“This promising upward momentum demonstrates the confidence that Californians have in the extraordinary power of a CSU degree to transform lives, particularly for America’s new majority, comprised of first-generation students, students of color, low-income students and adults seeking new opportunities,” said CSU Chancellor Mildred García.

The university called the increased enrollment numbers a “testament to the monumental efforts” of staff across all its schools to ensure that students and families had extra time to receive and consider financial aid packages after aid offers were delayed due to challenges with rolling out the new federal financial aid form last year.

It was the first time in 40 years that the Department of Education released an overhaul of the federal aid application. The goal was to make it easier for students to apply and qualify for college aid, but the rollout quickly turned into a nightmare for thousands of students after issues and glitches with the forms left students unable to submit their applications and forced colleges to delay handing out offers.

Cal State University, the University of California and several other schools extended the decision deadline for students to declare which school they intended to attend.

In a normal year, campuses would typically determine aid offers by March and students would decide on a school by May. But the Department of Education didn’t begin sending students’ applications to universities until mid-March, leaving many students waiting for their aid offers a few short weeks before that May deadline.

Preliminary data also revealed that more than half of Cal State University first-year students and undergraduates are from low-income families and historically underserved groups. And nearly all (96%) of California first-year applicants were admitted.

Cal State University said while the fall 2024 overall systemwide enrollment is not expected to exceed pre-pandemic numbers, the new data points to additional growth in the coming years.