California State University, Chico (Chico State) is one of the top public universities in California. Founded in 1887, the university has well over 125 years of educational heritage and is the second oldest campus in the California State University system. Chico State is a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) with a welcoming campus that supports a vibrant and engaged student body, numbering around 14,000.
Today, Chico State offers more than 200 undergraduate and postgraduate (master’s) degree programs, spanning a wide range of subject areas. The university’s experienced teaching staff are dedicated to the success of their students and encourage high levels of student engagement, fostering a strong connection with the local community and the state of California.
Chico State is highly rated in many national performance metrics, with one of the highest four-year graduation rates in the CSU system and 23nd place in social mobility according to the U.S. News & World Report 2025 college rankings.
This university also records one of the lowest average student debt amounts in the country, which indicates the level of value students receive, while highlighting Chico State’s commitment to providing fair access to a top education.
The campus is located only a few hours north of the San Francisco Bay Area, in charming downtown Chico where students will find a thriving community with plenty of student-oriented activities, cafes and restaurants, as well as a busy arts, music, and events scene. Chico also offers endless outdoor recreation possibilities, being home to Bidwell Park’s 3,500-plus acres of biking, hiking, and walking trails.
Chico State students are taking a long look into the university’s deep and distant past by assisting Russell Shapiro, a professor of paleontology and stratigraphy in the university’s Geological and Environmental Sciences Department, to uncover the fossilized remains of prehistoric animals found at a new excavation site near the base of the Sierra Nevada foothills.
One of the most exciting recent findings is the head of a mastodon, which lived more than 8 million years ago, complete with two perfectly preserved six-foot ivory tusks. It is the first known species of its kind to be discovered in this part of Northern California, and with students by his side, Shapiro continues to lead excavations, and co-ordinate the delicate task of processing samples and storing fossils.
In just a few months, the Chico State team have discovered a rhino skeleton, more than 600 fossilized trees, a giant tortoise, and four tusks from gomphotheres, giant elephant-like creatures which lived during the Miocene epoch.
Shapiro has teamed up with Chico State alumnus Dick Hilton, the first geology student to complete Chico State’s graduate program decades ago, to document and analyze these discoveries more fully.
Looking forward into the future of science, students at Chico State’s Ultracold Atom Lab are using the university’s ultra-cold atom laboratory to cool down atoms to almost absolute zero, placing them in a near-motionless state where their true quantum nature can be observed.
The hyper-cold lab includes a magneto-optical trap, lasers, and vacuum technology, and will provide the foundation for new research to explore whether these gases have special properties which mean they can be used to develop quantum computer technologies, which operate at much faster computational speeds than current machines.
The project will also create new educational and employment opportunities throughout the state, providing workforce training for future generations of technicians and innovators.
US$20,592 Undergraduate Fees are for indicative purposes, check with institution for details
US$19,510 Postgraduate Fees are for indicative purposes, check with institution for details
US$20,592 Vocational Fees are for indicative purposes, check with institution for details
Chico State is known for its commitment to inclusivity and opportunity, ensuring fair access to its excellent academic programs and services.
There are substantial scholarship options offered by various departments throughout the university to students who meets specific eligibility criteria. The university encourages all students to apply for scholarships, regardless of their academic standing.
Chico State’s Financial Aid & Scholarship Office processes three types of scholarship:
Overall, 77 percent of students receive some form of financial aid while studying at the university.
In addition, Chico State offers scholarships specifically for international degree-seeking students. Awards vary, but can reduce the total cost of attendance by up to one third. When aid is combined with the low cost of housing in Chico, students benefit greatly from the low total cost of attendance compared to other California and US universities.
Chico State offers over 200 undergraduate and postgraduate (master’s) programs, and each carries its own set of admission requirements. It's advisable for prospective students to visit the university's official website for comprehensive information on course-specific entry criteria.
Academic admission criteria for international freshmen students includes:
Regardless of the chosen program, all international applicants must satisfy Chico State's English proficiency criteria for admission. There are many different assessment systems which are accepted, however the three most commonly used are IELTS, Duolingo, and TOEFL, which require minimum scores of 6.0, 95, and 61 respectively.
The teaching faculty at Chico State are instrumental in creating the university’s welcoming and supportive learning environment, and motivating students to achieve their fullest academic and personal potential.
The university has an average undergraduate class size of 30 students, and an overall student to faculty ratio of 24 to 1. Students benefit from a significant amount of contact time with their professors, as well as a personalized approach with many opportunities for one-to-one feedback. Tuition is supported by a variety of learning methods and the latest teaching technologies to ensure that students encounter a diverse range of engagement opportunities.
In addition to communicating knowledge and teaching skills, teaching staff drive engagement with the university, the local community and the state of California. They encourage students to ‘Do and Dare’, undertaking purposeful action on a daily basis, and taking ownership of their decisions to build their own life experiences. At Chico State, “Today Decides Tomorrow.”
Chico State offers a wide variety of undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs, spanning many different areas of study. All in all, there are more than 385 undergraduate majors and minors, graduate degrees and professional certifications, providing students with a huge selection of qualifications.
The university has more than 75 departments, organized into seven academic colleges and four schools:
The high level of support students receive is consistent across all schools and departments, each of which exist as a community of tutors, lecturers, practitioners and organizational staff who are able to inspire and encourage, and above all, are dedicated to the success of their students.
The historic main campus at Chico State is a comprehensive learning environment, containing everything that students need to reach their academic and personal goals. It is situated on 119 acres of beautifully landscaped parkland, with plenty of green space and wide tree-lined avenues. Big Chico Creek runs through the center of campus, providing a welcome natural feature around which the campus infrastructure is designed.
The Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve (BCCER) contains 7,835 acres of rich and varied canyon and ridge habitats, including 4.5 miles of Big Chico Creek. It is located on the ancestral land of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe, and is an area of high biodiversity and environmental value.
The Paul L. Byrne Memorial University Farm is the university's 800-acre facility, which supports agricultural education and provides a working laboratory for students to gain experience, putting classroom learning into practice. The farm’s research benefits local farmers and ranchers, and its meat, dairy, and produce sales are central to the Chico community and support the College of Agriculture.
Chico State’s academic buildings are built in a variety of architectural styles, from red brick Romanesque to Modernist, designed with both sustainability and community in mind.
Academic facilities are excellent, with spacious lecture halls, cutting-edge laboratories, and a state-of-the-art library containing hundreds of thousands of books, journals and digital academic resources as well as individual and group study spaces. The new College of Behavioral and Social Sciences building is the first net-zero building on campus and houses the Community Legal Information Clinic and the Gender and Sexuality Equity Coalition.
The university has eight residence halls, where students can live alongside their peers, making it easy to meet people from outside their degree program and make long lasting friendships. Ninety percent of students live close enough to campus to walk or bike to class.
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