The People’s University: A History of the California State University

Since its founding as a single institution in San Francisco in the years after the Gold Rush, the California State University has grown into a system of 23 campuses that enroll more than 450,000 students. The People’s University is the story of that extraordinary growth. Today, the California State University is the state’s 1,000-mile campus. Its programs reach every corner of the state, and its mission of access, affordability, and quality touches countless people of all ages.