CSUN: A Snapshot of the Student Body

Singer Paula Abdul went there. So did actors Richard Dreyfuss and Debra Winger, Olympians Florence Griffith-Joyner and Bob Smauelson, and everyone from opera diva Carol Vaness to Boston Red Sox Manager Kevin Kennedy. They all attended Cal State Northridge over the campus’ 39-history.

But university officials concede that most people aren’t aware of those outstanding alumni or many other facts about the San Fernando Valley’ premier instituion of higher education.

Where do CSUN’s more than 25,000 students come from? What are they like? Do they graduate, and how long does it take?

Now there are answers. Although the roster of celebrity alums is not included, the university recently published what officials call CSUN’s first fact book, a narly 50-page compendium that provides a detailed snapshot of the campus and its student body as of fall of 1994. Future editions are being promised each fall.

Degrees Confered

As students from the high-enrollment years of the late 1980s worked their way through CSUN, the school awarded an all-time high of 4,219 bachelor’s degress in 1993-94. The total number of degrees awarded at CSUN since its inception is now approaching 125,000.

Number of bacherlor’s and master’s degrees conferred per 100 students: 26 in 1994.

What Schools They’re From

Of the 1,860 first-time freshmen enrolled, nearly 85% came from public high school, often from the public high school, often from the Valley.

Slymar High: 64

San Fernando High: 59

Monroe High: 49

Francis Polytechnic High: 49

Birmingham High: 45

Most of the transfer students were from area colleges:

Pierce College: 304

Valley College: 259

Santa Monica College: 199

Moorpark College: 162

Glendale College: 123

What School’s They’re In

CSUN’s business school remained the most popular of its eight schools. But choices varied greatly by gender:

Business Administration & Economics

Females: 2,396

Males: 2,613

Communication, Health, & Human Services

Females: 2,702

Males: 1,409

Social & Behavioral Sciences

Females: 2,019

Males: 1,304

Humanities:

Females: 1,582

Males: 572

Engineering & Computer Science

Females: 359

Males: 1,661

Where They’re From

CSUN is a commuter university. Most students come from the Valley, central Los Angeles and Ventura County. Here is a look at what communities studnets are from, based on ZIP Codes:

Los Angeles: 13.8%

Northridge: 9.5%

San Fernando: 7.6%

Van Nuys: 7.1%

Canoga Park: 6.1%

North Hollywood: 4.2%

Glendale: 3.4%

Simi Valley: 3.2%

Wodland Hills: 3.1%

Reseda: 2.8%

Most CSUN students are from the Los Angeles area.

Los Angeles: 60%

Non-Los Angeles: 40%

Ethnicity

What once was a predominantly white campus has now shifted to one where minority students outnumbered whites for the first time this fall. But because the booklet used a different method of calculation and the data are a year old, whites are shown outnumbering minorities.

White: 52.2%

Latino: 21.6%

Asian: 13.8%

African American: 7.9%

Other: 4.5% *

Gender:

Female: 57.3%

Male: 42.7%

Source: California State Univerisity Northridge. Researched by JOHN CHANDLER / Los Angeles Times