California State University

The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the California State University. The California State University system headquarters are at 401 Golden Shore in downtown Long Beach.

The CSU system is composed of 23 campuses, has almost 427,000 students, and is supported by 44,000 faculty members and staff. It is the largest university system in the United States.

In 2007, CSU awarded 52% of newly issued California teaching credentials, 45% of the state's engineering and information technology bachelor's degrees, and had more graduates in business, agriculture, communications, health, education and public administration than all other California universities and colleges combined. Altogether, about half the bachelor's degrees and a third of the master's degrees awarded annually in California are from the CSU.

Since 1961 nearly 2.5 million alumni have received a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree from the university system. CSU offers more than 1,800 degree programs in some 240 subject areas.