High school students in Riverside County may be able to receive direct admission into Bay Area universities that are part of the California State University system as part of a pilot program, the university announced last week.  

About 12,000 Riverside County high schoolers will receive direct admission to the California State University system for fall 2025 before submitting an application.  

CSU is partnering with the Riverside Office of Education in this first-ever pilot program, Sonoma State University said.  

Sonoma State is just one of ten CSU campuses at which qualifying high school seniors in Riverside County are being given immediate, conditional admission. Students can use the californiacolleges.edu platform to select which CSU campuses they prefer.  

Riverside County is able to do this because it implemented the California College Guidance Initiative, or CCGI, which provides high school data to CSU to determine which students automatically qualify, the university said.  

“CCGI is a game changer for California,” said Ed Mills, vice president for enrollment at Sonoma State in a statement. “We are very excited to be able to reach students in Riverside County who are offered direct admission, to showcase our top tier academic programs, amazing campus, and offer guaranteed housing.” 

Mills said they hope to eventually partner with high schools in Sonoma County as well.  

The campuses available for direct admission in the Bay Area are Cal State East Bay, Cal Maritime Academy, Cal State Monterey Bay, San Francisco State, and Sonoma State.  

The other Cal State universities include Cal State Channel Islands, Cal State Chico, Cal Poly Humboldt, Cal State San Bernadino, and Cal State San Marcos. 

Eligible students and families can visit www.calstate.edu/rcoe for more information.  

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.