California State University Information

The Minimum admission requirements is to complete 60 CSU transferrable units that must include:

• At least 30 units of General Education including English, Math, Critical thinking, and an oral communication course
• Major preparation courses
• Minimum GPA of 2.0 

It is essential for transfer students to be prepared for their major before transferring.  Students may select a major and compete related courses to their filed of study before transferring to be a competitive candidate.  Students who have completed the lower division course in their major at a community college will be prepared to take upper division courses at the university.   To find the courses that prepare you for your major, you may visit WWW.ASSIST.ORG, an Articulation tool between community colleges and CSU and UC Campuses.   Visit the Resource on the Transfer Center main page to learn about ASSIST.ORG.

To transfer to a CSU Campus, students may complete at least 30 semester units of General Education, which includes first year English Composition, Critical Thinking, an Oral Communication, and Transfer level Math.  Students may choose one of the following  General Education Breadth for CSU admission: 

• CSU General Education Breadth - This option is articulated with CSU campuses.  This divides the general education courses into six categories of area A to Area F.  The CSU GE Breadth worksheet lists courses and the unit requirements for each area.
• IGETC for CSU - This option is articulated with CSU and UC campuses. Students who are planning to apply to both CSU and UC campuses, are recommended to follow this path.  This also has  six categories of Area 1 to 6.   Students who are completing this GE Breadth for CSU, MUST complete an Oral communication course in Area 1. The IGETC worksheet lists courses and the unit requirements for each area.

The CSU Admission Handbook will lists CSU admissions policies and  requirements, available support programs and services, and more... You may review this handbook as you plan your transfer to a CSU Campus.

You should be familiar with the impacted campuses and majors at CSU campuses  (see the video in this link) as they may need additional requirements. 

in general, the impaction means that CSU campus may receive more applications from qualified applicants compared to their available space at each campus.  Some campuses may only be impacted for certain program.  Some campuses are impacted by campus, some for programs and some will be impacted for both campus and all programs.  To accommodate all applicants, they may place additional admissions requirements such as higher GPA. 

To be prepared for admission to an impacted campus and/or program, you may plan to meet the impaction criteria set by the CSU campus.  The CSU Campus Impaction web page provides information about impacted campuses and majors for transfer students. Individual campuses may also provide a list of impacted programs with the minimum GPA requirements and other criteria. The following are impacted campuses:

• Cal Poly San Luis Obispo - Also see the selection criteria, to be prepared for transferring to CAL Poly San Luis Obispo. You must first review the selection criteria and course requirements.  Then you may check WWW.ASSIST.ORG to find the equivalency of the course requirements with Cañada College courses.
• Fresno State
• CSU Fullerton
• Cal State LA
• CSU Long Beach
• San Diego State University, and the minimum GPA requirements
• San Jose State University

You may find a list of impacted programs at CSU campuses at https://www.calstate.edu/attend/degrees-certificates-credentials/Pages/impacted-degrees.aspx 

This PDF document provides a summary of all majors at CSU campuses that are impacted for 2022-23 academic Year. 

Local Area Colleges – CSU campuses that are impacted have established Local Area to prioritize applicants for admission purposes.  The Local Area criteria has been set and defined differently at each CSU campus.  Some campuses may give priority to those students who completed the majority of the units at the community college located in their local area, and others may give priority to those students who have competed their high school in one of the high schools in their local area.  This PDF document provides information about the local area of each CSU Campus.  

To be prepared and to become a competitive applicant for admission to these campuses, you may follow the impaction criteria listed on their admission website.

To apply to a CSU campus, you may create an account with CAL STATE APPLY, https://www2.calstate.edu/apply, and start your application during the application period.  Before starting your application you may gather all necessary documents, and follow the important deadlines and requirements.

You may apply to several CSU campuses using one application, and pay an application fee to each campus.  After submitting your application, each CSU campus, separately, will email you information about how to activate your portal page for that campus. The Portal page is the main communication tool that CSU campuses will use to inform you of your application and admission status, and the tasks that you must complete to finalize your application and admission.

Tips:

• See the Top Tip for Applying to CAL State video and start your application early
• Meet with a counselor to check your transfer status
• Start your application as soon as it becomes available.
• Don't guess the information that you are entering on your application.  Use a copy of your transcript and/or other documents as needed to complete your application.  Providing wrong information on your application could cause a delay in reviewing your application and/or denial of your admission.
• If you are not sure about any questions on the application, please check with the Transfer Center or your counselor.  
• Top 5 Do and don't suggestions by CSUs
• Constantly, check your CSU portal page, and follow the instructions and the tasks listed on this page by the given deadline.

You may use the following resources to complete your CSU application: 

• Attend the workshops and Q&A sessions offered by the Transfer Center.
• Application Guide for Transfer Students (2023-24) - This will provide you step by step instruction guiding you to complete the CSU admission application. 
• View the videos and PowerPoint that are provided under the "Resources" on the Transfer Center's main web page.

The Educational Opportunity Program is a support program for low income and educationally disadvantaged students to reach their educational goal. This program provides admission, financial, and academic support to eligible students.  The following are some of the eligibility requirements to apply to EOP at CSU campuses:

• Has a history of low family income
• Must be enrolled on a full-time basis. (Part-time attendance requires program director’s approval)
• Must apply for an undergraduate program
• Needs admission assistance as an exception admit, OR Meets regular admission requirements but in the opinion of EOP personnel will require a full range of assistance to succeed.

The EOP Application is part of the CSU admission application, and may be submitted only during the application pFAeriod.  All CSU campuses may not accept EOP applications for the Spring term. If you opt to apply for EOP, you need to complete:

• The section of the EOP program on the CSU application (autobiographical information)
• Provide name and email address of two people (one must be faculty member) to write recommendation letters. The recommendation letters must be submitted by the recommenders after you submit your application.  The deadlines to submit the recommendation may vary, so you may check the individual CSU website for the deadlines.

You may also check the EOP application and documents submission deadlines at the CSU web page. Check periodically for updates.

For more information you may read the EOP related FAQ provided by CSU. 

After each application period, CSU requires students to update their admission application.  They will reopen the admission application allowing students to:

• Enter the final grades for the in-progress courses
• Modify the planned courses, if needed
• Add additional colleges attended (if applicable)

This step of the application process is crucial, because the CSU campuses will make their preliminary decisions based on the self -reported information.  See below for important dates and deadlines. 

Some of the CSU campuses require a supplemental application or questionnaire to gather additional information and/or to verify the information provided on the CSU admissions Application.  Among the CSU campuses that require supplemental application:

• A few campuses require a separate supplemental application that will become available during the application update period, and students will have a notification on their portal page under the "to Do List" to complete this form and submit it by the given deadline.
• Some campuses may add a questionnaire on the fourth section of the CSU application, which you may answer during the application period, or the application update cycle (depends on the campus).

The following campuses require a Supplemental Application for all transfer students:

• CSU Bakersfield - Nursing Program only (Nursing CAS application)
• CSU East Bay - Nursing  B.S.,  and Human Development B.S. (online only) 
• Cal Poly San Luis Obispo- the Supplemental application will be available via CAL Apply and must be completed by January 15th.  Applicants for

  Architecture, Music, and Art and Design will be notified in January to submit a portfolio.

• CSU Long Beach
• CSU Los Angeles - the Supplemental application is part of the CSU Admission application.  Students must also follow the major specific criteria.  Students applying for Nursing Program must also complete the Nursing CAS application.
• CSU Sacramento - Nursing Program only
• San Francisco State University - Nursing (CAS Application), and Social Work ( Complete the Social Works application that is available on school of Social Work website)
• San Jose State University supplemental application information - the supplemental application will be available via the SJSU Portal page.
• Sonoma State University - Nursing B.S. (pre- Licensure) Program only (CAS Application)

• Deadlines to submit official  of preliminary and final transcript
• Deadline to submit EOP Application and Documents

The application fee is $70 per campus.  The application fees may be waived up to 4 campuses if students meet the application fee waive criteria. 

You may find information about the application fee waiver and its criteria at CSU website.

In addition to the questions on the CSU application, CSU Campuses may require students to complete a residency questionnaire before enrolling in a CSU campus.  This is solely to determine whether a student needs to pay in-state tuition or out-of-state tuition.   Please check your portal page to find if this is requested.

If California resident students initially classified as non-resident,  students may file an appeal and complete the Residency Reclassification form and submit it to the CSU campus.   You may find more information about residency status for tuition purposes, reclassification and appeal process at the CSU website.

You may use "Explore Major at CSU Campuses" website to find whether the program of your interest is offered at the CSU campus that you are interested in.  You may also explore the online programs offered at CSU Campuses.

Online Degree Programs at CSU campuses - there are a few programs at CSU campuses that are offered in hybrid or fully online format.

CSU Campuses provide wide range of services in support of undocumented and DACA students.  You may find detail information at theCSU Campus Resources page about AB 540 and DACA.

You must enter every course and all grades that appears on your college transcript(s) on your CSU application, CAL State Apply.  The Transfer Credit Entry Guide will assist you to report your coursework and grades correctly and accurately. 

Nursing Programs at CSU campuses are impacted and require additional criteria and/or supplemental applications. You may find a list of CSU campuses that are offering Nursing programs and a link to their website for detailed information in the link.

The cost of attendance can be different from campus to campus.  As you plan your transfer, you may learn about the cost and expenses, so you can plan your finances and to develop a budget.  Here, you may explore the Cost of attendance for each CSU campus.  This PDF document will list the cost of attendance for all 23 campuses in 2022-23 academic year, which allows you to compare the costs among campuses.

This link provides information about:

• FAFSA and California Dream application
• Financial aid availability
• Tools to find the net cost at each CSU campus
• Types of Aid

Below you will find links to the financial aid and Scholarship availability at each CSU campus: