Enrollment applications for the upcoming Fall 2017 term at Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) have reached an all-time high. The university received a combined 91,268 applications, with 61,716 from first-time freshmen and 29,552 from transfers, officials announced today.
The total number of applications received was the highest of any California State University (CSU) campus.
“CSULB has made remarkable strides in graduating students with degrees that transformed their lives, and record numbers of prospective students are hoping to follow that pathway,” said President Jane Close Conoley in a statement. “Investing in our state’s systems of public higher education is an investment in the future of California. With additional state support, we would gladly accept more students.”
CSULB conferred more than 10,000 degrees in each of the last two years, the result of the university’s efforts to increase graduation rates.
While efforts to improve said rates have created more opportunities for new students to attend, “the university’s ability to meet the demands of the tens of thousands of qualified applicants seeking a high-quality education is constrained by limited state support,” the release stated.
Efforts to improve the college-going rates of students in the region include CSULB’s partnership with the Long Beach College Promise.
Applications submitted by students seeking to transfer from partner institution Long Beach City College have increased by 16 percent over the past three years, while the number of Long Beach Unified School District students enrolling at CSULB has increased 71 percent since the start of the program.
The university is recognized nationally with its award-winning faculty and innovative program offerings, and has earned national rankings from various outlets including U.S. News and World Report and Washington Monthly. It was also recently named one of America’s “Best College Values” by Kiplinger.
More people study art and design at CSULB than at any other public university nationwide, according to the release. The music program boasts the Choir of the World after the Bob Cole Conservatory Choir earned the Pavarotti Trophy by winning the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. In the sports arena, CSULB’s athletes, captured five consecutive Big West Commissioner’s Cups from 2010-11 to 2014-15.