CSU schools, including Sacramento State, plan return to in-person classes in fall 2021

The California State University system announced Wednesday that it plans to bring students and faculty back for in-person instruction in fall 2021.

The 23-campus system, the nation’s largest, said that its goal was to bring the majority of its courses back to its schools. Students have largely been learning virtually since the start of the coronavirus pandemic began in March.

“It’s critical that we provide as much advance notice as possible to students and their families, as we have done previously in announcing our moves toward primarily virtual instruction,” said CSU Chancellor Timothy White. “While we are currently going through a very difficult surge in the pandemic, there is light at the end of the tunnel with the promising progress on vaccines.”

The CSU system serves more than 480,000 students across the state. In September, CSU announced that spring 2021 classes —including those at Sacramento State — would be primarily delivered online and campuses would reduce the number of students housed on campus.

White said that decision was made early on to help families plan ahead, allow each university to publish and promote courses offered, and allow university officials to work on accreditation requirements for courses taught online.

Sacramento State retained a record number of students this fall, despite moving nearly all of its classes online due to COVID-19. There are more than 31,500 students registered in classes this fall. About 84% of first-year students continued to take classes.

CSU schools delayed application deadlines for high school and transfer applicants to Dec. 15, giving them two extra weeks to submit in their applications.