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Office of the Registrar

General Education

For Current CSUSM Students
If you started at CSUSM prior to Fall 2025 (and have remained continuously enrolled), you are not subject to the new GE requirements. 

If it appears that you would benefit from electing the new GE requirements, you will receive an email from the university the week of April 8, as well as a pop-up message in MyCSUSM.

The General Education (GE) curriculum in the CSU has undergone changes in the past several years. Most recently, the CSU introduced a new GE pattern as part of efforts to streamline the process for California students planning to transfer to a CSU or UC. These changes go into effect for Fall 2025. 

  • In Fall 2025, CSU policy was revised to rename all GE subject areas, remove 3 units in Area C (Arts/Humanities) and 3 units in Area E Lifelong Learning, and to add a 1unit requirement for Area B3 (Science laboratory).
  • In Fall 2021, CSU policy was updated to include a new GE area (Area F), for Ethnic Studies, and 3 units of Area D were removed.
  • In Fall 2018, CSU policy (Executive Order 1100) mandated that all baccalaureate students complete a minimum of 48 semester units of GE distributed over five areas, with a few revisions and clarifications of policy.

For reference, please see this comparison chart that outlines the changes to General Education requirements at CSUSM since Fall 2017.

Students who were enrolled at CSUSM prior to the effective date of a given change (and who have not broken continuous enrollment) are not subject to changes in GE. However, students have the option to elect the new requirements at graduation.

Please see the FAQ page for more information.