San Francisco State University Overview

San Francisco State University is a public institution situated in San Francisco, California. The location of SFSU is great for students who prefer living in an urban area.

What Is San Francisco State University Known For?

• The highest award offered at SFSU is the doctor's degree.
• In 2017-2018, 49% of the faculty were full-time.
• A student who earns a bachelor's degree from SFSU makes roughly $49,200 a year. This is 21% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.

San Francisco State University Rankings

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at SFSU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#6	Best Value Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best Value Ethnic Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best Value Area Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best Value Ethnic, Culture & Gender Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#17	Best Value Philosophy & Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#34	Best Social Work Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#43	Best Public Administration Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#58	Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#60	Best Value Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#133	Best Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards SFSU has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Comparative Group Studies Schools	College Factual
#74	Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	College Factual
#135	Best Nursing Schools	Nursing Degree Search
#171	Best Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting Schools	College Factual
#234	Best Business Administration & Management Schools	College Factual
#250	Best Nursing Schools	College Factual

Where Is San Francisco State University?

Contact details for SFSU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	1600 Holloway Ave, San Francisco, CA 94132
Phone:	415-338-1111
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/sanfranciscostate
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/SFSU

How Do I Get Into SFSU?

You can apply to SFSU online at: https://www2.calstate.edu/apply

Admission Requirements for SFSU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	neither required nor recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	neither required nor recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into SFSU?

SFSU has an acceptance rate of 84%, which means that is not quite as selective as some other schools. Still, you'll need good grades and a solid application if you want to be admitted.

Approximately 38% of accepted students are men and 62% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 82%, and the acceptance rate for women is 85%.

Average Test Scores

About 89% of students accepted to SFSU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 470 and 570. Math scores were between 460 and 560.

SFSU received ACT scores from 19% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 14 and 23. Math scores were between 16 and 22. Composite scores were between 16 and 23.

Can I Afford San Francisco State University?

The overall average net price of SFSU is $29,561. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At SFSU, approximately 35% of students took out student loans averaging $5,771 a year. That adds up to $23,084 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SFSU is 5.2%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

San Francisco State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 24,024 undergraduate students at SFSU, with 19,847 being full-time and 4,177 being part-time.

There are also 3,325 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 19,847 full-time undergraduates at SFSU, 43% are male and 57% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of San Francisco State University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	5,109
Black or African American	1,173
Hispanic or Latino	7,287
White	3,007
International Students	1,390
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,881

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at San Francisco State University. At this time, 16 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 103 countries are represented at SFSU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and Japan.

Online Learning at San Francisco State University

In 2019-2020, 26,559 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at SFSU has changed over the last few years.

Online Growth Rankings of SFSU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at San Francisco State University was 1,330.6%. This is the #98 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at SFSU regardless of major.

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

San Francisco State University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	1,477	0	93	0	1,570
General Psychology	408	0	44	0	452
Communication & Media Studies	406	0	8	0	414
General Biology	329	0	47	0	376
Computer Science	265	0	27	0	292
Criminal Justice & Corrections	253	0	0	0	253
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	218	0	14	0	232
Health & Physical Education	212	0	6	0	218
General English Literature	163	0	50	0	213
Teacher Education Grade Specific	197	4	0	0	201
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	190	0	2	0	192
Nursing	114	0	39	0	153
Design & Applied Arts	150	0	3	0	153
Political Science & Government	129	0	8	0	137
Liberal Arts General Studies	125	0	5	0	130
General Education	0	0	126	0	126
Ethnic Studies	108	2	11	0	121
Fine & Studio Arts	116	0	3	0	119
Sociology	114	0	0	0	114
Mechanical Engineering	97	0	0	0	97
Communication Sciences	62	0	32	0	94
Health Sciences & Services	94	0	0	0	94
History	78	0	12	0	90
International Relations & National Security	77	0	12	0	89
Economics	76	0	5	0	81
Special Education	0	16	59	0	75
Hospitality Management	74	0	0	0	74
Civil Engineering	59	0	0	0	59
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	0	58	0	0	58
Nutrition Science	57	0	0	0	57
Journalism	54	0	0	0	54
Philosophy	35	0	18	0	53
Electrical Engineering	52	0	0	0	52
Natural Resources Conservation	52	0	0	0	52
Anthropology	44	0	3	0	47
Student Counseling	0	0	45	0	45
Drama & Theater Arts	40	0	5	0	45
Geography & Cartography	39	0	5	0	44
Mathematics	36	0	6	0	42
Textile & Apparel Studies	41	0	0	0	41
Public Administration	0	0	41	0	41
Music	27	0	13	0	40
East Asian Languages	33	0	4	0	37
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	35	0	2	0	37
Computer Engineering	36	0	0	0	36
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	0	2	33	35
Social Work	23	0	12	0	35
Romance Languages	31	0	2	0	33
Chemistry	19	0	14	0	33
Urban Studies	30	0	0	0	30
General Engineering	0	0	29	0	29
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	28	0	0	0	28
Writing Studies	9	0	18	0	27
General Family & Consumer Sciences	26	0	1	0	27
Physics	16	0	7	0	23
Accounting	0	1	21	0	22
Educational Administration	0	0	0	22	22
Dance	16	0	0	0	16
Applied Mathematics	15	0	0	0	15
Geological & Earth Sciences	11	0	4	0	15
Human Resource Management	13	0	0	0	13
Public Health	0	0	13	0	13
Classical Languages & Literature	8	0	4	0	12
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	4	0	6	0	10
Statistics	9	0	0	0	9
Museum Studies	0	0	9	0	9
Other Philosophy & Religious Studies	9	0	0	0	9
Germanic Languages	6	0	1	0	7
Behavioral Science	0	0	6	0	6
Gerontology	0	0	6	0	6
Teacher Education Subject Specific	1	4	0	0	5
Area Studies	4	0	0	0	4
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	2	0	2	0	4
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	0	0	3	0	3
Religious Studies	3	0	0	0	3
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	2	0	2
Marine Science	0	0	2	0	2
Marketing	0	1	0	0	1
Science, Technology & Society	0	1	0	0	1
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	0	0	0
Industrial Production Technology	0	0	0	0	0
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	0	0	0	0	0
Health/Medical Prep Programs	0	0	0	0	0
Natural Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
General Physical Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
General Social Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	6,455	87	912	55	7,509

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Briantrejo under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.