Institutional Research and Strategic Analytics

March 2021 - Enrolling Students from a Diverse Service Region

Each of the 23 campuses in the California State University system has what is called a service area. Within their respective service area, each CSU campus coordinates various community engagement and outreach efforts, as well as giving applicants from their area priority in admissions decisions. The representation of students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds from these areas can therefore be useful as an indicator of institutional equity and inclusion.

In this month’s By the Numbers(opens in new window) report, we look at how well the racial and ethnic diversity of the CSU, Chico service area has been represented in student enrollment. To do so, we compare the “supply side” of UC/CSU-eligible high-school graduates from service area counties with the enrollment of First-Time Freshmen (FTF) from the service area over the past four years. These data are derived from interactive data dashboards that are currently under development by the Office of Institutional Research(opens in new window).

CSU, Chico By the Numbers 

Butte County accounted for:

25% eligible graduates in the region and 45% of regional FTF enrollment

% of Eligible Graduates & Regional FTF Enrollment

Hispanic / Latino - 26% and 38%; Asian American - 10% & 15%

Read a two-page report (PDF) that further explores data on the representation of service area diversity through First-Time Freshmen enrollment.

Learn more (PDF) about the service areas of the various CSU campuses.

Further Reading:

Toward a New Model of College “Choice” For a Twenty-First-Century Context (Harvard Educational Review, 2018)

Student Choice of College: How Far Do Students Go for an Education? (Journal of College Admissions, 2009)

Understanding Latina and Latino College Choice: A Social Capital and Chain Migration Analysis (Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 2008)

Staying Close or Going Away: How Distance to College Impacts the Educational Attainment and Academic Performance of First-generation College Students (Sociological Perspectives, 2018)