University census confirms record-breaking SDSU, SDSU Imperial Valley enrollment for 2025-26
Combined enrollment at SDSU and SDSU Imperial Valley surpassed 40,000 for the first time.
San Diego State University’s fall 2025 Census confirmed record-breaking enrollment numbers anticipated at the start of the new academic year.
For the first time, combined enrollment at SDSU and SDSU Imperial Valley surpassed 40,000, reaching 41,184 students. That’s a 4.6% increase from last year’s then-record-setting enrollment total. Adding enrollees of SDSU Global Campus, the university’s online degree and professional certificate program, is expected to push that total over 43,000 when a final count is available.
SDSU and SDSU Imperial Valley welcomed 6,911 first-year students for the 2025-26 academic year, surpassing last year’s record of 6,629 students by 4.3%. These students were selected from a record-breaking pool of 95,444 first-year applicants with an average GPA of 3.83.
“Each year, more students from across California and around the world choose SDSU because they see a community that will challenge them, support them, and help them achieve their goals,” said Stefan Hyman, associate vice president for enrollment management. “We are proud to welcome such a diverse and accomplished group of new Aztecs who will continue to shape the university’s vibrant future.”
The College of Sciences also set the pace for first-year applicants with 26,517, followed by the Fowler College of Business with 16,641.
Additionally, 4,432 transfer students found new homes at SDSU and SDSU Imperial Valley, up 5% from fall 2024. They were selected from a pool of more than 16,000 transfer applicants, and 3,037 of those new transfers, or 68.5%, were from San Diego and Imperial counties. SDSU transfer applicants had an average GPA of 3.43, while SDSU Imperial Valley transfer applicants’ average GPA was 3.28.
In total, SDSU and SDSU Imperial Valley considered applications from more than 120,000 new undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students.
Advanced degrees
SDSU also saw increases in students seeking to advance their education, with 1,708 new master’s program students and a record-breaking 223 new doctoral students.
SDSU also set new benchmarks in several graduation categories, according to data from Graduation Initiative 2025, the California State University system’s ambitious 10-year initiative to increase graduation rates and eliminate opportunity and achievement gaps. That data shows the four-year graduation rate for full-time, first-time freshmen rose from 49% for the fall 2015 cohort to 62.2% for the fall 2021 cohort, SDSU’s highest mark yet and second only to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 63%.
When compared with all SDSU cohorts included in the initiative, the university’s fall 2021 cohort ― the most recent with complete four-year data ― saw the new highs in four-year graduation rates for students who identified as Native American (87.5%), Black/African American (52.3%), Hispanic/Latinx (55%) and Asian or Pacific Islander (70.2%). New marks were also set for fall 2021 students who identified as first-generation college students (52%).
When looking at six-year graduation rates for first-time freshmen in the fall 2019 cohort, new highs were set for SDSU students who identified as Asian or Pacific Islander (86.6%), Filipino (81.2%), first-generation (72.6%) or commuter students (74.4%).
SDSU also set a new high for two-year graduation rates for new upper-division transfer students at 62.2% for the fall 2024 cohort. The cohort also set high marks for students who identify as Hispanic/Latinx (62.9%), Asian or Pacific Islander (59.3%), international (65.7%), Pell Grant recipients (59%) and first-generation (61.2%).
