California’s new law makes admission to the state of California automatic

What’s good for Riverside County is good for the entire state: After a pilot project to automatically admit high school students into the California State University system in the Inland Empire County began last fall, lawmakers this year passed legislation greenlighting a similar program statewide next fall.

California State University leaders last year launched the pilot project to attract more students to the university system and direct some to campuses struggling with enrollment declines.

The pilot worked like this: University and high school officials in Riverside County reviewed course completion data and student grades to identify every high school senior in the county who was eligible for admission to 10 of the 22 California state campuses selected for the pilot. Students then received a brochure in the mail last fall before the Nov. 30 application deadline, plus digital correspondence telling them they were provisionally accepted as long as they applied to one or more California state campuses, even those not in the pilot program, and maintained their high school grades.

Starting next fall, all California students will be eligible for the automatic admission program, which will expand the list of participating Cal State campuses to 16. Cal State will release more information about the program’s implementation in February. says the website.

In the extended program rationale during a legislative hearingbill author Sen. Christopher CabaldonDemocrat from Napa, said college should be as seamless a transition from high school as it is for students finishing one grade and moving on to the next. “It’s entirely our invention, the difference between 12th grade and college. . . . The same difference doesn’t exist between elementary school and junior high or junior high and high school.”

legislation, Senate Bill 640it passed without any opposition and was signed into law by the governor. The program does not mean that students can take any major at the campuses of their choice. Some majors may require students to show higher high school grades or more difficult courses if those programs have fewer openings than student demand. For Californians, standard minimum GPA for entry is a 2.5 in a series of college preparatory courses.

Students will also be free to apply to the six other California state universities, but admission is not guaranteed. These are Fullerton, Long Beach, Pomona, San Diego, San Jose and San Luis Obispo.

What did the Riverside pilot do

High school counselors said CalMatters that Riverside County’s pilot project encouraged students who had never considered attending a university to pursue the automatic admissions process. Counselors also reached out to some students who didn’t meet California state admissions requirements to take them, encouraging more students to apply to the college who otherwise wouldn’t. Younger students who have been out of college may be encouraged to enroll in these more difficult high school courses, knowing that automatic admission is in the cards, counselors said.

Sylvia Morales, a student at Heritage High School, a public high school in Riverside County, received an automatic letter of acceptance last fall. “I was pretty set on going to a community college and then transferring because I felt like I wasn’t ready for the four-year commitment of college,” she said. She eventually submitted her forms, encouraged by her high school guidance counselor.

After the Riverside pilot, California State campuses saw approximately 1,500 more applicants and 1,400 more accepted students in 2025 compared to 2024, though only 136 more students enrolled.

Riverside County data reviewed by CalMatters shows that more applicants and accepted students through an automatic admissions policy does not translate to more enrolled students. Colleges keep a close eye on their “yield rates” — the percentage of accepted students who eventually enroll. In 2024, the yield rate of the state of California for Riverside County was about one-third. But in 2025, it dropped by a few percentage points, meaning a lower share of admitted students chose any campus in the state of California.

That suggests the system will have to work harder to convert accepted students into those who actually enroll, said Yvunze Ugo, a research associate at the Public Policy Institute of California, especially with students who wouldn’t apply if it weren’t for the automatic admissions program.

Automatic acceptance does not mean automatic enrollment

While college acceptance clears a major hurdle to eventual enrollment, there are many necessary steps before students sit down for their first college course. Admitted students must submit additional assessments, make a deposit, complete registration forms, and actually report for the fall term. Students who were less involved in college culture were more likely to “melt out” during process between acceptance and enrollmentsome studies show, although researchers say that can be reversed with additional coverage of students at risk of not enrolling.

And even with an automatic admissions program, students still have to register online and complete an application, which many students in the Riverside pilot project did not. California State sent more than 17,000 automatic acceptance notices to students, and just under 12,000 formally applied to at least one California State campus. Those who did not apply may have chosen another option, such as the often more selective UCLA, private campuses, community colleges, or no college at all.

“I think it’s going to be incumbent on CSU to pick up some of that slack and encourage students accepted through that pathway to go through the rest of the process and ultimately end up on a CSU campus,” Ugo said.

California state officials also recognize this. “Students who apply independently tend to have a stronger self-directed interest and therefore a stronger intention to enroll,” said April Gromo, a senior California state official who oversees enrollment management. More direct engagement with students admitted to this program will be needed, she said.

Some campuses with a recent history of declining enrollment received a small boost from the pilot. San Francisco State has 311 more applications from Riverside County in 2025 than in 2024. That’s 11 more students enrolled, overview California state data shows.

A statewide program could direct more students to campuses with enrollment problems, even if the “return rate” declines. This is because if the rate of new students enrolled is not growing as fast as the number of students admitted, the rate of return is falling.

Under the expanded statewide program, Grommo said the system anticipates “enrollment growth as well, but not necessarily at the same rate as applications and admissions,” she added.

And as an economy showing signs of decaythe prospect of a college degree may force more high schoolers on the fence about attending Cal State; System data shows students there earn a typical salary of $71,000 five years after graduating with a bachelor’s degree. Enrollment after secondary education tends to rise such as the number of available jobs are decreasinga social scientific phenomenon in which employers are more selective about who they hire, forcing many job seekers to hit the books to show they are more educated.

Of course, deteriorating economies often lead to less public funding for colleges as state budgets are under siege, which can lead to fewer faculty and staff for growing numbers of students. “But I think generally having more students is not a problem,” Ugo said.