Cal State Northridge Posts Record Enrollment

More students are enrolled this semester at Cal State Northridge than at any time in the school’s 44-year history.

Enrollment at the San Fernando Valley’s only four-year university has reached a record high with 31,681 full- and part-time students, spokeswoman Carmen Ramos Chandler said. The number tops by 233 students the previous record enrollment set in the 1988 fall semester.

“The university’s reputation today is that we are a destination university--not a second choice,” Chandler said.

Increased enrollment and demand for classes has prompted administrators to close fall admissions to freshman and sophomore transfer students and to all post-baccalaureate applicants, Chandler said. Admissions for those seeking graduate degrees remain open.

The average CSUN student is employed and female, about 26, lives in the Valley and carries a full-time course load of 12 to 15 units per semester, Chandler said. About 26% of students are taking fewer than 12 units.

CSUN has rebounded from a significant dip in enrollment brought on by the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which caused more than $400 million in damage to the campus.

“No building on campus was unscathed,” Chandler said, adding that quake damage at CSUN was the most extensive ever incurred at any public institution in U.S. history.