The Decline of CSU Impaction: A Turning Point for Student Access

This blog post and publication is part of our Back to School, Forward with Students campaign, which highlights research, student testimonies, and leadership thought pieces focused on expanding college access for historically underserved students. As students prepare to return to school, we call on leaders across the state to prepare for students. Empowering more students to access college is key to helping our state achieve an ambitious 70% college attainment goal by 2030, meeting workforce demands, and making economic opportunity possible for more Californians. The California State University (CSU) is core to this, educating more than 400,000 students.

Over the past few years, California State University (CSU) campuses have begun rolling back the use of impaction, a designation that allows campuses and programs with more qualified applicants than available space to raise admissions requirements. This change, described in greater detail in our brief, “The Declining Impact of Impaction,” is taking effect amidst a flurry of countervailing pressures—ambitious enrollment mandates, new budget realities, and looming demographic shifts. The trend of de-impaction signals a welcome shift toward improved access and opportunity for California’s prospective students, but will require continued commitment and innovation amid pressures.

A Decade of Expansion, Then a Sharp Decline 

Impaction occurs when a CSU campus or program receives more eligible applicants than it can accommodate. To narrow down the pool of applicants, impacted campuses are permitted to impose supplemental admission criteria such as higher GPAs or additional coursework. As a result, many students are accepted into the CSU system but redirected away from their preferred campuses or majors, and often across the state. For students with strong local ties due to family, work, or finances, redirection is functionally indistinguishable from rejection. 

Throughout the 2010s, the use of impaction expanded rapidly. Eighteen of the 23 CSU campuses increased the share of their impacted programs (or were already fully impacted), and by 2021-22, nearly half (46%) of all CSU academic programs were classified as impacted. 

Since then, the trend has abruptly reversed. As of the upcoming 2025-26 academic year, that figure has dropped to just under one-third (32%), with nearly all of the decrease taking place in the last 2 years. Since 2022, 12 campuses have reduced their number of impacted programs, and none have increased their total by more than 1. Three campuses—Dominguez Hills, Maritime, and Monterey Bay—now have zero impacted programs. Another 6 CSUs are impacted only in Nursing Basic, the one major that remains impacted at all 16 campuses where it’s offered. 

De-Impaction as a Response to Enrollment Pressures 

Under the 2024–25 Budget Act, the state has set aggressive enrollment targets for the CSU system. The CSU is expected to increase resident undergraduate full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment by over 10,000 full-time students in each of the next 2 years. Despite these expectations, the budget designates no new funding for enrollment growth. Conversely, if the system fails to meet these increased enrollment targets, the budget permits the state to cut funding to the CSU up to $10,983 per student below their target.  

Simultaneously, the CSU’s new enrollment reallocation plan, which kicked into effect last fall, calls for reallocating funding away from campuses significantly under their enrollment targets to those appreciably above their targets.  

In this context, the reduction in impaction has become a key mechanism for enrollment management for campuses that are concerned they may fall short of meeting targets, those that seek to mitigate the extent to which they fall short, and even those that are on track to meet targets but want to increase their margin in order to gain further enrollment slots via reallocation. By removing barriers to admission, campuses are positioning themselves to meet enrollment expectations and avoid, or at least mitigate, potential financial consequences. 

Persistent Challenges

Despite the recent shift, impaction has held strong in some circles. Five CSU campuses—San Diego, Long Beach, San Luis Obispo, San Jose, and Fullerton—remain fully impacted and collectively account for 77% of all impacted programs in the system. These campuses serve some of the most densely populated and demographically diverse regions in California, but admit fewer than half of their applicants, far below the systemwide average of 86%. All 5 of these campuses were among the 9 that received reallocated funding for 2024-25 from campuses that were unable to meet enrollment targets the previous year. In the coming years, one area to watch will be whether these reallocated slots are enough to lead one or more of these historically impacted campuses to transition towards at least a partially de-impacted status. 

Nursing programs also continue to face persistent impaction. All 16 CSU campuses that offer Nursing Basic have designated the program as impacted. This reflects broader capacity constraints in high-demand fields that are critical to California’s workforce needs.

Policy and Practice 

As the CSU system navigates tightening budgets and heightened expectations, de-impaction is a case study in the ability of policymakers to effect significant changes by aligning financial incentives with student access. But it also reveals limitations—without accompanying investment in capacity, high-demand campuses will remain pressure points, and many students will continue to be redirected away from their top choices and, potentially, higher education as a whole. 

The next steps are clear: strengthen transfer guarantees, so students on Associate Degree for Transfer pathways are not derailed by admissions barriers, continue focusing on aligning admissions practices with state priorities, and more. As the state nears 2030 to achieve our goal of a 70% college attainment rate, the CSU and higher education systems across the state must work concertedly and innovatively to support students in accessing college.

Read the full publication

Publication

The Declining Impact of Impaction at the California State University