California’s largest public university system has been facing an unprecedented decline in enrollment over the past several years.

According to the latest data released by California State University (CSU), enrollment has dropped by 6 percent since 2019 – resulting in 28,000 fewer students enrolled as of fall 2023.

CSU has 23 university campuses and seven off-campus centers, and enrolled 454,640 students as of fall 2023.

A spokesperson for CSU was not immediately available for comment.

CSU’s decrease is consistent with U.S. college enrollment trends, according to education research group the Education Data Initiative.

College enrollment in the U.S. peaked in 2010 at 21 million, according to the initiative’s website.

Since then, the initiative estimates enrollment has fallen nearly 23 percent to 16.2 million in spring 2022.

However, California’s other public university system, University of California (UC), saw its highest enrollment number in fall 2023.

UC enrolled 295,573 students in fall 2023 – including 233,272 undergraduates, its highest number of such students to date.

The rising enrollment numbers reflect multi-year efforts across the university—as well as from lawmakers—to help more Californians attain a UC degree, UC officials said in a January news release.

Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged in 2023 to give both the UC and CSU systems a 5 percent annual boost in funding for the next five years if they improved graduation and enrollment rates, particularly among California residents.

With the pledged increases, state funding amounted to $216 million for UC and $227 million for CSU for the current fiscal year, which started last July.

However, in January, Mr. Newsom proposed deferring the 2024–25 school year’s increase for both systems because of a projected shortfall in funding for K-12 schools and community colleges.

Mr. Newsom also suggested pulling from the state’s education rainy day fund to meet the minimum obligation in the 2024–25 fiscal year, which runs from July 1 through June 30, 2025.