California State University San Marcos (CSUSM or Cal State San Marcos) is a public university in San Marcos, California, United States. It was founded in 1989 as the 21st campus in the California State University (CSU) system.

CSUSM offers 43 bachelor's degree programs, 24 master's degree programs, 8 credential programs, and 1 joint doctoral with the University of California, San Diego.

CSUSM is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and also Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The university had a total undergraduate enrollment of 15,431 students in fall 2024. In 2024, the university had 284 tenured faculty.

In 1978, State Senator William A. Craven won $250,000 in state funding for a North County satellite campus of San Diego State University, which opened at Lincoln Junior High School in Vista In the fall of 1990, the first class enrolled at the new university: 448 juniors and seniors. (Initially, only upperclassmen were admitted to CSUSM.) While construction continued on the permanent campus, classes continued to be held at the former SDSU satellite location on Los Vallecitos Boulevard. An industrial facility on Stone Drive was also used to provide lab space for the biology program, and was used through January 1993. In 1991, the university conferred its first degrees, as seven students were awarded Bachelor of Arts degrees. CSUSM's first official commencement ceremony was held in May 1992. The university had grown to 1,700 students and 305 faculty and staff. The 106,509 gross square foot Social and Behavioral Sciences Building at the north end of the campus is next to it.

thumb|The building under construction in the foreground is the new housing for the school

CSUSM also has an Extended Learning program. According to its website: <blockquote>Extended Learning (EL) at California State University San Marcos serves as the academic outreach arm of the university. As a unit within the Academic Affairs Division, EL is North San Diego County's premier provider of continuing education and training programs.&nbsp;Cal State San Marcos, and—by extension, EL—is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.</blockquote>

For the 2011–2012 academic year, tuition and fees rose to $6,596, a 31% increase attributed to the state's budget crisis; it was the largest such percentage increase in the United States.

In 2023, the California State University Board of Trustees agreed to rename Craven Hall to the Administrative Building, as students and alumni voiced concerns over William A. Craven's history of racist remarks. Despite Craven's influential role in the founding of CSUSM, students felt that his reputation did not align with the university's goals as a Hispanic-Serving Institution.

In 2024, CSUSM broke ground on Black Oak Hall, a new housing building and dining commons. It is expected to be completed by fall 2026. The structure will be seven stories tall, include a 10,000-square-foot dining facility, and will provide housing for more than 500 students. The dining commons will be named Kwíila Dining, utilizing the Luiseño word for "acorn."

Academics

{| class="wikitable floatright" style="text-align:center"

|+ Fall freshman profile

|-

!

! 2024 || 2023!! 2022!! 2021!! 2020

|-

! Applicants

| 19,721 || 16,156 || 15,000 || 13,986 || 15,398

|-

! Admits

| 18,755 || 15,797 || 14,064 || 13,049 || 12,230

|-

! Acceptance Rate

| 95.1% || 97.8% || 93.8% || 93.3% || 79.4%

|-

! Enrolled

| 2,624 || 2,533 || 2,551 || 2,413 || 2,255

|-

! Avg GPA

| 3.34 || 3.40 || 3.39 || 3.32 || 3.40

|}

The university is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission.

The university has four colleges:

  • College of Business Administration (COBA)
  • College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (CSTEM)
  • College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences (CHABSS)
  • College of Education, Health and Human Services (CEHHS)

The five most popular undergraduate majors for 2021 graduates were:

  • Health Professions and Related Programs at 10%
  • Social Sciences at 19%
  • Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services at 17%
  • Communications, Journalism, and Related Programs at 6%
  • Psychology at 9%

Rankings

CSUSM Social Mobility Outcomes include: #1 in the U.S. in the 2022 Social Mobility Index & Top 3% in National Economic Mobility Index.

The 2022–2023 USNWR Best Regional Colleges West Rankings ranks San Marcos 7 on Top Performers on Social Mobility, 10 on Best Undergraduate Teaching (tie), 17 on Top Public Schools, 33 in Best Value Schools and 293 in Nursing (tie).

{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="float:right; text-align:center;"

|-

! colspan="2" | 2025-2026 USNWR Best Regional Colleges West Rankings

|-

! Program

! Ranking

|-

| Top Performers on Social Mobility

| 8

|-

| Top Public Schools

| 13

|-

| Top Performers on Social Mobility

| 16 (tie)

|-

| Best Value Schools

| 40

|-

| Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs

| 99 (tie)

|-

| Economics

| 240

|-

| Nursing

| 249

|-

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="float:right; text-align:center"

|-

! colspan=4 style="background:#000080; color:#FFFFFF; "| 2024-2025 USNWR Graduate School Rankings

|-

! Program

! Ranking

|-

| Public health (tie) || 137

|-

| Social Work (tie) || 142

|-

| Speech–Language Pathology (tie) || 198

|}

Demographics

{| class="wikitable floatright sortable collapsible"; text-align:right; font-size:80%;"

|+ style="font-size:90%" |Undergraduate demographics as of Fall 2023

|-

! Race and ethnicity

! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Total

|-

| Hispanic

|align=right|

|-

| White

|align=right|

|-

| Asian

|align=right|

|-

| Two or more races

|align=right|

|-

| Black

|align=right|

|-

| Unknown

|align=right|

|-

| Foreign national

|align=right|

|-

! colspan="4" data-sort-type=number |Economic diversity

|-

| Low-income

|align=right|

|-

| Affluent

|align=right|

|}

In 2022 59% of the students were female, 41% male. There are also a sizable number of transfer students from community colleges. The "local admissions area community colleges" for CSU San Marcos are Mount San Jacinto College in Riverside County and Mira Costa College and Palomar College in San Diego County. About 50 percent of transfer students are from North San Diego County, 2 percent from San Diego County elsewhere; and 48 percent from Riverside County.

This CSU is still considered somewhat of a "small school"—especially in comparison to other San Diego County institutions such as San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego. Looking to expand, the campus master plan envisions the university growing to an enrollment of 25,000. The student newspaper is called The Cougar Chronicle.

Greek life

CSUSM recognizes several fraternities and sororities, each belonging to one of three different governing councils. Social fraternities belong to the Inter-fraternity Council (IFC), while social sororities belong to the Panhellenic Council (PHC).

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="1" |Fraternities (IFC) The USU offers many spaces for students to gather between classes with seating, electronic charging ports, and restrooms. The indoor windows showcase panoramic views of the San Marcos valley.

University District (North City) and housing

thumb|University District with the new housing construction and the Extended Learning building in the background

North City, an urban district of San Marcos, intended to directly serve the entire North County San Diego community, is just across from the university's main campus. Several other buildings, including student and market apartment complexes with ground-level restaurants, small businesses, residential complexes, a medical center, and a hotel are all in the district.

The university has three housing options: the University Village Apartments (UVA), the Quad, and North Commons, which is exclusively for freshmen. The first two are apartment-style dorms with fitness centers, pools, game rooms, common areas, and more, and North Commons is traditional, more dorm-style housing. The Quad is directly east of the university's Extended Learning Building (ELB) which is directly linked to campus with a second-level pedestrian bridge. The university also plans to expand housing with a new building to replace what is currently UVA Parking Lot. The proposed building will add 600 beds and a second dining hall. The university has committed some of these beds to be available to house the low-income students.

Transportation

The Sprinter hybrid rail service provides service to a station on the northeast corner of the campus. It was intentionally constructed near the University Village Apartments. It connects the campus to other cities of north San Diego County, including Oceanside, Vista and Escondido.

Athletics

The Cal State–San Marcos (CSUSM) athletic teams are called the Cougars, and their official colors are bright/royal blue and white. The university is a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) since the 2015–16 academic year. The Cougars previously competed as an NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1998 to 1999 (when the school joined the NAIA) to 2014–15.

CSUSM competes in 15 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer and track & field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball. Former sports included cheerleading and dance.

The university's athletic teams are represented by Crash the Cougar. Crash began formally representing CSUSM during its inaugural season as a full NCAA member in 2017.

Accomplishments

  • CSUSM won its first-ever CCAA Robert J. Hiegert Commissioner's Cup in 2022–23, which is given annually to the CCAA member institution with the highest aggregate ranking in eight of the CCAA's 13 championship sports.
  • The CSUSM softball team made its first NCAA Division II World Series appearance in 2023 after winning its first NCAA Division II West Regional Championship. The Cougars won the 2022 CCAA Regular-Season Championship and hosted both the NCAA West Regional and NCAA Super Regional as the region’s top seed.
  • The CSUSM women's golf team returned to the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championships in 2023 after winning its fourth consecutive CCAA Championship and a third-place finish at the West Regional.
  • The CSUSM men's golf team won their first CCAA Championship in 2023.
  • The CSUSM women's basketball team won its first CCAA Tournament Championship in 2022–23 and advanced all the way to the championship game of the NCAA West Regional. The Cougars previously won the CCAA Regular-Season Championship in 2021–22 and were the league’s Regular-Season Co-Champion in 2019–20.
  • The CSUSM men's basketball team made its second consecutive trip to the NCAA West Regional in 2022–23. In 2021–22, CSUSM won its first CCAA Tournament Championship and made its first-ever West Regional appearance as the region’s top seed.

Branding and Identity

University Name

California State University San Marcos is one of two CSU campuses to omit the comma used in the system's standard naming convention.

Mascot

The original mascot of the campus was Tukwut, which means mountain lion in the Luiseño language of the local Native American Luiseño people. Tukwut was chosen as the mascot in 1990 by CSUSM's first class of students in order to honor the indigenous people and their land on which the university was built. However, the mascot was "dropped for something with more ring," and in a 2004 referendum students selected "Crash the Cougar." The dropping of the Luiseño word was criticized by a faculty member at CSU San Marcos. The indigenous word can still be found in campus culture, and is used to describe the student life experience as "Tukwut Life."

Crash the Cougar is a blue mountain lion, and is intended to be gender non-confirming.

Notable people

Alumni

  • Kimberly Dark, performance artist, writer, and sociologist
  • Mark Dice, author, conservative political commentator, conspiracy theorist, and YouTuber
  • Savelina Fanene, wrestler
  • Mason Grimes, professional soccer player
  • Mark Hoppus, member of rock band Blink-182
  • iDubbbz, YouTuber
  • Robert C. Nowakowski, Rear Admiral in the United States Navy
  • Tiffany van Soest, professional Muay Thai kickboxer
  • Taylor Tomlinson, comedian (non-graduate)
  • Shaun White, professional snowboarder, skateboarder, and musician
  • Michelle Saniei, reality television personality

Presidents

  • Bill W. Stacy (1989–1997), who left to become chancellor of the Chattanooga campus of the University of Tennessee
  • Alexander Gonzalez (1997–2003), previously the provost of the California State University, Fresno who left CSUSM to become president of the larger California State University, Sacramento
  • Roy McTarnaghan (2003–2004), interim president
  • Karen S. Haynes (2004–2019), former president of University of Houston–Victoria, who joined CSUSM in February 2004. In February 2019 she announced her intention to retire at the end of that academic year.
  • Ellen Neufeldt (2019–current), formerly vice president of Old Dominion University, Neufeldt became president in July 2019

Explanatory notes

References

  • Athletics website