Cal State Fullerton has been named among the nation’s environmentally sustainable colleges in the Princeton Review’s Green Colleges: 2025 Edition, and its green college list.
The list, released Oct. 15 by The Princeton Review, profiles universities and colleges “selected for their exceptional programs, policies, and practices related to sustainability and the environment.” The guide is based primarily on surveys the company conducted in 2023-24 of administrators at nearly 600 colleges and analyses of more than 25 survey data points. The company has published the list annually since 2010 and profiled 511 schools this year.
“We are seeing substantive interest among college applicants in attending green colleges,” said Rob Franek, editor in chief of The Princeton Review.
Of the nearly 8,000 high school students who participated in the company’s 2024 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 61% said having information about a college’s commitment to the environment would affect their decision to apply to or attend the school.
Selection for the publication was based on “Green Rating” scores ranging from 60 to 99. Colleges that earned a score of 80 or higher were selected for this edition of the guide.
Of the 511 schools selected, 460 are in the U.S.; 31 are in Canada; and the remaining 20 schools are in Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.
Focused on Our Environment
Cal State Fullerton is a charter member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education with a gold STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System) rating.
The university is a top performer in the water category of the association’s 2024 Sustainable Campus Index, achieving 27% water reduction from infrastructure and landscaping.
CSUF offers 100 electric vehicle charging spaces through the Southern California Edison Charge Ready Program, helping save 8,300 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each day.
CSUF’s sustainability strategy includes implementing renewable energy technologies, such as solar power and adhering to green building standards in all new construction and renovation projects. The campus received a $600,000 grant from the California Energy Commission’s California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing and Efficiency Program, or CalSHAPE, to install low-flow water fixtures and is pursuing up to $20 million in Environmental Protection Agency grants to implement projects like a campus microgrid, battery storage and carbon capture technology.