Cal State Channel Islands, the youngest and one of the smaller of the California State University campuses, was opened in 2002, and currently has just under 7,000 undergraduate students. This beautiful suburban campus is true to California’s old Spanish mission architecture, and the property used to be home to a state mental hospital, which was closed in 1997.
Cal State Channel Islands has been designated as a Hispanic-serving institution, with over 25% Hispanic students. There are 27 majors available, and the only impacted major is nursing. Popular majors include political science, communications, biology, business and liberal studies. There are only 2 lecture halls that hold more than 100 students, and the student-to-faculty ratio is 25:1.
CSUCI is open to returning students, with dorms available for students who are 21 years and older. Most traditional undergraduate dorms are suite-style. Santa Cruz Village, where most freshmen live, has dance studios and music practice rooms, and is just across the quad from the main cafeteria. Reflecting the mission of most Cal State campuses, which seek to provide a hands-on, practical education, Channel Islands supports students through a variety of services for veterans, students with learning disabilities, and minority students.
CSUCI is one of the few campuses that offers spring admission, and the campus has transitioned to the semester calendar. The 1,800-acre campus is not yet at capacity and has available classroom and dormitory buildings, ready for expansion. Most of the buildings on the sprawling campus are Spanish architecture, but the ultra-modern library has beautiful mountains in the backdrop.
The Channel Islands campus is just far enough away from Los Angeles that students can really feel like they are going away to college, without being too far. The campus is beautiful; you can see all of my photos from my visit below.