The California State University (CSU) system will implement new general education requirements—initially created for transfer students—for all students in the system, including first-time freshmen.
CSU’s board of trustees voted March 27 to implement a streamlined, universal general education pathway for all students in the fall of 2025.
The decision eliminates the university system’s traditional general education pathway, called “CSU GE Breadth,” in favor of the simplified pathway, known as the California General Education Transfer Curriculum.
It also drops the number of required general education credits from 39 to 34, cutting several humanities and arts courses, as well as classes labeled as “lifelong learning” and “self-development.”
However, the new general education pathway does add a laboratory class to the new list of requirements.
The simplified pathway was first proposed by trustees in May 2022 to comply with the Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act, which was passed in 2021 to improve the process for students transferring to CSU or University of California systems.
The simplified pathway was developed by the academic senates of the CSU, UC and community colleges in collaboration, and goes into effect in the fall of next year.
Though the new pathway was created for students transferring from a community college, CSU trustees decided to apply it to first-time freshmen entering the system beginning in fall 2025.
Some CSU faculty, however, oppose applying the simplified pathway to students who enter the system as freshmen.
Beth Steffel, chair of CSU’s academic senate, said she’s concerned that the self-development courses offered will eventually be cut from the university altogether if they are no longer general education requirements.
Ms. Steffel also said additional costs could be incurred by adding a science laboratory course requirement.
