College & Workforce Readiness

Latino Applicants to California State University Outnumber Whites

By Lesli A. Maxwell — December 06, 2011 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

For the first time ever, Latino applicants to the 23-campus California State University system outstripped white applicants, university officials announced yesterday.

In a record pool of 665,000 applicants, Latinos made up 33.3 percent of prospective freshmen and transfer students, while whites were 31.2 percent. The 412,000-student Cal State system has long been an incredibly diverse institution, and no single ethnic or racial group forms a majority.

Cal State didn’t release any detailed data about the applicant pool, but we can safely assume that many of these Latino applicants began their schooling in California as English learners.

The application totals are for Oct. 1 through Nov. 30, the priority period for all 23 CSU campuses.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Learning the Language blog.