The CSU aims for bold increases in enrollment to meet student demand for a CSU education and the needs of California's future workforce. The CSU plans to increase resident enrollment by 9,434 full-time equivalent students (FTES). Using the marginal cost rate, which is the cost of education per FTES, the funding required to support 9,434 new resident FTES in 2022-23 is $129.9 million.
It is the CSU's intent to place new enrollment strategically at campuses that are experiencing significant prospective student demand and can expand more seats in academic programs that are vital to reducing current and prospective workforce shortages.
2021-22 Resident FTES Base
| 374,246 |
Proposed Growth (2.5%)
| 9,434 |
2022-23 TOTAL RESIDENT FTES
| 383,680 |
Marginal Cost Rate per FTES
| $13,765 |
TOTAL COST OF ENROLLMENT GROWTH
|
$129,859,000 |
In 2015, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) concluded that the state would fall about 1.1 million college graduates short of economic demand by 2030. Of the 1.1 million degree gap, the PPIC calculated the CSU will need to graduate an additional 480,000 students to meet its share of the gap. The CSU is on track to partially meet workforce demand by increasing access and completion outcomes through Graduation Initiative 2025. But the other half of the equation necessary to shrink the gap is a funded enrollment increase of three to five percent per year over the next decade to meet increasing student demand for a CSU education and California's future workforce needs.
Additional Information – Marginal Cost of Instruction
Additionally, California has for decades encouraged generations of young Californians to pursue higher education. Despite the pandemic, demand for the CSU remains strong as more students graduate from high school having met the requirements for admission to the CSU and more transfer students complete the Associate Degree for Transfer. To accommodate more students at the CSU, the legislature and governor committed to providing recurring funding to grow enrollment by 9,434 resident FTES beginning in 2022-23. This would cost approximately $129.9 million and would be equivalent to approximately a 2.5 percent increase in funded enrollment growth principally for new two-year transfer and four-year first-time student seats and, to a smaller extent, growth in the average unit load for continuing students in support of graduation rate goals. Each one percent increase in enrollment would cost approximately $51.5 million and would allow for growth of approximately 3,740 FTES.