The California State University is the largest four-year university system in the country. More than 23,000 faculty teach nearly 409,000 students on 23 campuses and six off-campus centers extending from Humboldt in northern California to San Diego in the south. Today the campuses of the CSU include comprehensive and polytechnic universities and, since July 1995, the California Maritime Academy, a specialized campus.

The individual California State Colleges were brought together as a system by the Donahoe Higher Education Act of 1960. In 1972, the system became The California State University and Colleges and in 1982, the system became The California State University.

The mission of the California State University is to provide high-quality, affordable higher education to the people of California and to prepare students for a diverse, multi-cultural society.

Today, the CSU offers more than 1,800 bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in some 240 subject areas. The CSU prepares about 60 percent of the teachers in the state and more artists, scientists, engineers, agriculturists and nurses than all other California universities and colleges combined. About one in 10 members of California’s workforce is a CSU graduate.