Frequently Asked Questions

What does CSUSB consider to be its local area?

CSUSB has defined its local area to include public school districts within San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Some private and parochial schools have been accounted for within the local area as well.

Local Area School Districts within San Bernardino County include:

• Apple Valley Unified
• Chaffey Joint Unified High
• Colton Joint Unified
• Fontana Unified
• Hesperia Unified
• Morongo Unified
• Redlands Unified
• Rialto Unified
• Rim of the World Unified
• San Bernardino City Unified
• Victor Valley Union High
• Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified

Private and parochial schools within San Bernardino County include:

• Academy for Academic Excellence
• Apple Valley Christian Baptist
• Aquinas High School
• Arrowhead Christian Academy
• Bloomington Christian K-12
• Calvary Chapel Christian School
• Hesperia Christian School
• Loma Linda Academy
• Ontario Christian High
• Public Safety Academy
• Sherman Indian High School
• Victor Valley Christian School

Local Area School Districts within Riverside County include:

• Banning Unified
• Beaumont Unified
• Coachella Valley Unified
• Desert Sands Unified
• Jurupa Unified
• Moreno Valley Unified
• Palm Springs Unified
• Riverside Unified

Private and parochial schools within Riverside County include:

• Baptist Christian
• California Lutheran High School
• Christian School of the Desert
• Palm Springs Christian High School
• Riverside Christian High School
• Woodcrest Christian School

Local Area Community Colleges within San Bernardino County include:

• Barstow College
• Chaffey College
• Copper Mountain College
• Crafton Hills College
• San Bernardino Valley College
• Victor Valley College

Local Area Community Colleges within Riverside County include:

• College of the Desert
• Moreno Valley Community College
• Mt. San Jacinto College
• Norco Community College
• Palo Verde College
• Riverside Community College

Great news! No confirmation deposit is required. The fee is waived. To accept your offer of admission and commit to CSUSB, please follow these steps:

1. Log into your MyCoyote student portal.
2. Check your tasks.
3. Follow the hyperlink to accept your offer.

Please note: You can only accept your offer once. If you experience any issues or difficulties navigating the process, please don't hesitate to contact our main line at 909-537-5188. A paraprofessional is ready to assist you

Please follow the instructions on our Accept your Admission Webpage.

All applications are thoroughly reviewed before an admission decision is made. Applicants are denied admission solely on the basis of their failure to meet admission requirements.

First-Year Student admission requirements

Transfer admission requirements

CSUSB is an impacted campus. Out of local area or specific major admissions criteria may apply. Applicants who are denied admission to CSU San Bernardino may submit an Admission Appeal Request no more than 15 business days after the date the applicant was notified by email of their denial by the Office of Admissions & Student Recruitment.

CSUSB is impacted at a program level, where some programs receive more applications from CSU qualified students than we can enroll. 

If you were already registered in courses for the semester you applied to, missing a deadline could result in you being dropped from courses and not being allowed to enroll in the semester again. If you are not able to attend the semester you applied to and still wish to attend CSUSB, you would need to apply again to a later, available semester.

Most baccalaureate-level courses from accredited institutions are transferable to CSUSB. Review the ASSIST website to check individual courses at your California community college, and confirm if your coursework transfers to at CSUSB.

Connect with your Transfer Center regularly regarding transferability of coursework and CSU GPA for admission.

If you are transferring from another accredited university, articulation of coursework and units will be determined after evaluation of official transcripts submitted to CSUSB. Your transferable units will be determined and placed by the Office of the Registrar after you have been admitted to Cal State San Bernardino.

You may submit an application online at Cal State Apply.

All applicants must pay a non-refundable, non-transferable processing fee of $70 for every CSU application submitted unless qualified for a fee waiver. Qualified students may apply for a need based fee waiver that may be used for up to four campuses.

The CSU undergraduate application does not require you to write an essay or submit any letters of recommendation. Students applying to our Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) will need to complete a supplemental application and additional information is necessary.

Students applying to an impacted major may have to submit additional information for full admission to the major.

Yes. Students classified as nonresidents may appeal to the Chancellor’s Office within 30 calendar days of the issuance of the notification of the final campus decision. The campus decision may be appealed only if at least one of the following applies:

1. The decision was based on:
   1. a significant error of fact;
   2. a significant procedural error; or
   3. an incorrect application of law which, if corrected, would require that the student be reclassified as a resident; and/or
2. Significant new information, not previously known or available to the student, became available after the date of the campus decision classifying the student as a nonresident and based on the new information, the classification as a nonresident is incorrect.

Students must explain why the appeal meets one or more of the above appeal criteria and provide supporting documentation. For example, a “significant error of fact” could be demonstrated by stating that the campus incorrectly determined that a specific document, such as a driver’s license, was untimely and by providing a copy of the document establishing the error. An appeal that only states “a significant error of fact,” will be denied.

Appeals should be submitted online.

CSUSB, like all CSU campuses, determines initial residency for tuition based on the answers you provide in the admissions application.  If the residency questions asked through Cal State Apply do not provide enough information to make a residency determination you will be contacted via your Coyote email by a Residency Specialist.  In that communication, the Residency Specialist will ask for additional documentation to support your claim of California residency and will make a determination of residency status.

If you are already attending a community college or another university, please note Cal State San Bernardino will only accept upper division transfer students. This means you must be fully eligible as an upper division transfer student by the end of the spring term if you are applying for fall at Cal State San Bernardino. Lower division transfer students, or those with fewer than 60 transferable semester units, will not be admitted to Cal State San Bernardino.

An impacted major is one where more applications are received from eligible students during the initial filing period than the campus can enroll. There are four majors at CSUSB where admission requirements for the major are set higher than other majors at CSUSB. These majors are Pre-Criminal Justice, Kinesiology – Allied Health, Pre-Nursing, Pre-Psychology, and Pre-Social Work. Please visit our impaction information page for more information.

Applicants to Nursing and Social Work will be required to complete a supplemental application in order to be fully admitted into the major.

California residents are the only students who will be accepted into the Nursing major.

If you have a confirmation number from Cal State Apply, you should hear from Cal State San Bernardino within approximately two weeks. If you have not received any acknowledgement of your application after that time, please contact us by phone at (909) 537-5188 or by e-mail at moreinfo@csusb.edu.