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More than 17,400 high school seniors last fall got the sweetest news any anxious student can get: Congratulations, because of your high school GPA, you鈥檙e automatically admitted to one of 10 California State University campuses of your choice 鈥� and they鈥檙e all relatively affordable.

Even with less than a week to go before the campuses wrap their final decisions about whom to admit, is already showing that more students have been admitted from the county than last year, about 10,600 so far in 2025 compared to last year鈥檚 roughly 9,800.

The pilot builds on Cal State鈥檚 efforts to enroll more students and works like this: High school seniors receive a notice in the mail that they鈥檙e automatically admitted as long as they maintain their grades, finish the 15 mandatory courses necessary for admission to a Cal State, and complete an admissions form to claim their spot at a campus. Cal State was able to mail the notices because it signed an agreement with the Riverside County Office of Education that gave the university eligible students鈥� addresses.

Now in the program鈥檚 first year, Cal State joins other public universities across the country in a growing national movement to . From November through January, Cal State informed students they were accepted to the 10 campuses. To claim a spot, students needed to go online and pick at least one campus.

If past admissions and enrollment trends hold, Cal State as a system will educate hundreds of more students, all from Riverside, than they would have without the pilot. That鈥檇 be a boon for a system that prides itself on its affordability and motto that it鈥檚 the people鈥檚 university; Cal State admits a far higher percentage of students than the University of California. It also could serve as a much-needed budget boost from the extra tuition revenue those students bring, especially at campuses with sinking enrollment.

Eight campuses 鈥斅燙hannel Islands, Chico, East Bay, Humboldt, Maritime Academy, Monterey Bay, San Francisco鈥�, and Sonoma 鈥� are so under-enrolled that Cal State is pulling some of their state revenues to send . Cal Maritime is soon merging with another campus . The pilot also includes the two closest campuses to the county, San Bernardino and San Marcos.

The system chose Riverside County because all of its public high school students were already loaded onto a state data platform that 鈥� a key step in creating automatic admissions. Riverside is also 鈥渆thnically and economically representative of the diversity of California 鈥� many of the students the CSU is so proud to serve,鈥� a spokesperson for the system, Amy Bentley Smith, wrote in an email.

At Heritage High School, a public school in Riverside County, the pilot encouraged students who previously didn’t even consider attending a public four-year university to submit the automatic admission forms to a Cal State.

Silvia Morales, a 17-year-old senior at Heritage, got an automatic admissions letter. 鈥淚 was pretty set on going to community college and then transferring, because I felt like I wasn’t ready for the four-year commitment to a college,鈥� she said.

Even with a 3.0 GPA, higher than , she nearly didn鈥檛 submit the forms to secure her admission until early January. That鈥檚 well past the standard Nov. 30聽admissions deadline.

It wasn鈥檛 until her counselor, Chris Tinajero, pulled her into a meeting that she decided to opt into the pilot. 鈥淚 went through the sales pitch like, 鈥楬ey, you get this guaranteed admission, you’re an amazing student,鈥欌�� he recounted.

The pitch worked. Though Cal State sent a physical pamphlet and her high school also emailed her about the pilot, 鈥淚 wasn’t really paying attention,鈥� Morales said. She needed an adult she trusted at the school to persuade her that the applications were worth the effort, she said.

Morales applied to three Cal State campuses in the pilot plus two outside the program that were still accepting late applications 鈥� Chico, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Northridge and San Bernardino. She got into each one, she said.

Her parents are 鈥減roud of me because I want to go to college,鈥� Morales said. Neither went to college, she added.

Final enrollment figures won鈥檛 be tallied until August, including how many of the students admitted through the pilot attended one of the 10 campuses. But the system鈥檚 chancellor鈥檚 office is already planning to replicate the pilot program in a Northern California county, which will be named sometime in April, Cal State officials said.

A by Christopher Cabaldon, a state senator and Democrat from Napa, would make automatic enrollment to Cal State for eligible students a state law. The bill hasn鈥檛 been heard in a committee yet.

A boost in application numbers

Of the 17,000 students who received an invitation to secure their automatic admissions, about 13,200 submitted the necessary forms. That鈥檚 about 3,000 more students who applied from the county than last year.

Those who otherwise wouldn鈥檛 have applied to a Cal State include students who were eyeing private colleges, said Melina Gonzalez, a counselor at Heritage who typically advises students who are already college-bound.

Nearby private colleges offer all students application fee waivers; at Cal State, typically only low-income students receive fee waivers. But the pilot provided each Cal State student one fee waiver worth $70, which was a draw to students and their parents who don鈥檛 qualify for the fee waiver but might struggle to pay.

Last year, 10 of the 100 senior students Gonzalez counseled didn鈥檛 apply to a Cal State. This application season, all her students submitted at least one Cal State application, she said.

鈥淚t was big, it was really cool, their eyes, they were so excited,鈥� she said of the automatically admitted students. 鈥淭hey would come in and show me their letters.鈥�

Parents called her asking if the pamphlet from Cal State was authentic. With guaranteed admission, some parents ultimately decided to pay for additional applications to campuses in the pilot, knowing it wasn鈥檛 in vain.

At Heritage, high school counselors reviewed Cal State鈥檚 provisional list of students eligible for the pilot to add more seniors, such as those who hadn鈥檛 yet completed the mandatory courses but were on track to do so.

Tinajero was also able to persuade some students who hadn鈥檛 completed all the required courses for Cal State entry to take those, including online classes. Still, others with qualifying grades didn鈥檛 apply because they weren鈥檛 persuaded that a four-year university was for them. Tinajero sees program growth in the coming years, assuming Cal State continues with the pilot. Younger high school students who witnessed the fanfare of automatic admissions may take more seriously the need to pass the 15 required courses to be eligible for a Cal State or University of California campus, he said.

That鈥檚 part of Cal State鈥檚 vision for this pilot, said April Grommo, the system鈥檚 assistant vice chancellor of strategic enrollment management: Begin encouraging students to take the required courses in ninth grade so that by 11th and 12th grade they鈥檙e more receptive to applying to Cal State.

Pilot leads to more applications

The automatic admissions pilot is likely what explains the jump in overall applicants, said Grommo. 鈥淚f you look at the historical numbers of Riverside County students that have applied to the CSU, it’s very consistent at 10,000, so there’s no other accelerator or explanation for the significant increase in the applications,鈥� she said.

Some campuses in the pilot are probably going to see more students from Riverside County than others. The eight under-enrolled Cal State campuses each enrolled fewer than than 100 Riverside students as freshmen, a CalMatters review of 2024 admissions data show. Two enrolled fewer than 10 Riverside students as freshmen.

Cal State isn鈥檛 solely relying on past trends to enroll more students. Grommo cited research that suggests direct admissions programs are associated with increases in student enrollment, but not among low-income students, who are less familiar with the college-going process or have additional economic and family demands, like work and child care.

Even after students are admitted, some don鈥檛 complete key steps in the enrollment process, such as maintaining their grades in the second semester, completing registration forms to enroll,聽and paying deposits. Others, especially low-income students, have a change of heart over summer about attending college, .鈥� Then there are the students who got into typically more selective campuses, such as at elite private schools and the University of California, and choose instead to go to those.

To prompt more students to actually enroll, Cal State officials in early March hosted in Riverside County for students admitted through the pilot. About 2,600 students signed up to be bussed from their high schools to large venues, including the Riverside Convention Center, where they met with staff, alumni and current students from all 10 Cal State campuses participating in the program. Those were followed by receptions with students and parents.

Grommo said they maxed out capacity at both venues for the student events. While it鈥檚 common for individual campuses to host events for admitted students, it was a first for Cal State鈥檚 central office.

The event costs, physical mailers to students about their admissions guarantee, invitation to the college fairs and another flyer about the relative affordability of a Cal State cost the system鈥檚 central office around $300,000, Grommo estimates. But if the event moves the needle on students agreeing to attend a Cal State, the tuition revenue at the largely under-enrolled campuses alone would be a huge return on investment.

The effort is a far more targeted approach than another admissions outreach effort Cal State rolled out last fall to inform students who started but didn鈥檛 finish their college applications that they鈥檙e provisionally accepted, as long as they complete and send their forms. The notification went to 106,000 students and was the result of a , a major higher education philanthropy. The system will know by fall if this notification resulted in more students attending a Cal State.

But that was aimed at students who already applied. The Riverside pilot brings in students, like Morales, who wouldn鈥檛 have applied without the mailers and entreaties from counselors. She鈥檚 leaning toward picking Cal State San Bernardino for next fall. It鈥檚 close to home and an older cousin recently graduated who had a good experience there, she said.

Her next task? Working with her parents to complete the federal application for financial aid by April 2, the deadline for guaranteed tuition waivers for low- and middle-income students.

It鈥檚 possible that Cal State may take the direct admissions pilot statewide. All counties are required by state law to join the state-funded data system that Riverside is already a part of to electronically transmit students鈥� high school grades to Cal States and UCs. Doing so removes the need for schools to send campuses paper transcripts. The deadline for all counties to join the state data system is summer of 2026.

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