San Francisco State University announced an expansion of its San Francisco Promise Initiative this morning, guaranteeing admission to SFSU for high school seniors within the San Francisco Unified School District and students at City College of San Francisco.  

During a press conference, which featured SFSU President Lynn Mahoney, CCSF Chancellor Kimberlee Messina and SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su, it was announced that all three of San Francisco’s public education institutions are joining forces to make it easier during the application process.

“San Francisco is at an important moment, as we all work together to ensure that our post-pandemic future is as robust as our past,” Mahoney said. “Much of the city’s past success rests on the strengths of its public education system, from Pre-K through graduate and professional degrees.”

The expansion of the initiative guarantees admission to students graduating from SFUSD high schools who earn at least a C or higher in all required A–G courses and maintain a minimum of a 2.5 GPA during their sophomore through senior years.

“We are celebrating a dream so many of our students have had for such a long time — a dream to build a bridge between our local public schools and the incredible opportunities that we have right here in San Francisco,” Su said. “This is an initiative by San Franciscans for the future of San Francisco.”  

The plan also includes guaranteed admission to CCSF transfer students who complete at least 60 transferable semester units with a GPA of 2.0 or above. CCSF students are also required to finish the “Golden Four” core classes — oral communication, written communication, critical thinking and math/quantitative reasoning with a grade of C- or better. 

“With this expanded partnership, more of our students will have the confidence and certainty to continue their education at a low-cost, high-quality university without the fear of student debt or a complicated application process,” Messina said. 

Katie Lynch, senior associate vice president for enrollment management at SFSU, said the plan for this new initiative is to have it in place for this current admission cycle. Students applying for the Fall 2026 semester would be the first to take advantage.

“This has solidified the collaboration and relationship between City College and SFUSD and SF State to really learn how to work together in a much more efficient way,” Lynch said.