San José State University

San José State University spreads across the east side of downtown San Jose around Washington Square. With about 37,000 students it is one of the largest universities in the region and the founding campus of the California State University system. For Palo Alto families it is the nearest public four-year university. For residents it is also the home of a major public library, a downtown theater and big-crowd venues for sports and concerts.

This page covers location, history, programs, cost, visits and public venues. It relies on SJSU's own pages, the CSU's published tuition schedule and Wikipedia's history of the university. Check the SJSU website before you go, especially for parking and tour dates.

Location and getting there

The campus address is One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192. From downtown Palo Alto it is about 20 miles by road, or 17 miles in a straight line. The drive on US 101 or Interstate 280 takes 30 to 40 minutes outside rush hour and much longer at peak times.

By train, ride Caltrain to San Jose Diridon station and continue by VTA light rail, bus or a walk of about 1.5 miles east through downtown. Our San Jose route guide covers the trip in both directions. Our San Jose day trip covers what to see nearby. SJSU's transportation office answers trip planning questions at 408-924-RIDE.

History

The university began in San Francisco in 1857 as the Minns Evening Normal School, a once-a-week teacher training program led by George W. Minns. In 1862 the state legislature funded the California State Normal School, which opened on July 21 that year. After several moves around San Francisco, the school relocated to San Jose in 1871 and opened its first building on Washington Square.

That building burned in 1880 and was replaced by stone and masonry halls. Those were damaged in the 1906 earthquake and partly torn down. What remained was rebuilt into four halls that still stand: Tower Hall, Morris Dailey Auditorium, Washington Square Hall and Dwight Bentel Hall. Tower Hall, completed in 1910, is the oldest structure on campus. In 1963 students and alumni campaigned to save it from demolition. It reopened in 1966 and was restored again in 2007.

Other moments from the university's history:

• 1930: a two-year police science program began, described by Wikipedia as the first policing degree in the United States.
• 1967: thousands of students protested Dow Chemical recruiting on campus during the Vietnam War.
• 2003: the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library opened as a joint city and university library.
• 2012: NASA Ames awarded SJSU $73.3 million for air and space research, the largest federal award in its history.

Programs

SJSU has nine academic colleges offering more than 250 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. In fall 2024 the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering was the largest, with 7,133 students, followed by the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business. As of fall 2022, its graduate enrollment was the highest in the CSU system.

Research collections on campus include the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, the J. Gordon Edwards Entomology Museum and the Carl W. Sharsmith Herbarium. Our John Steinbeck page covers the writer's Stanford years. Athletic teams compete as the Spartans in the Mountain West Conference at the NCAA Division I level.

Admission and cost for 2026 to 2027

Undergraduate admission runs through the CSU's systemwide application. Wikipedia notes that SJSU is impacted in all undergraduate majors, which means meeting the minimum CSU requirements does not guarantee admission. Graduate programs admit separately.

Tuition is set by the CSU. Under the five-year plan the CSU board approved in 2023, full-time undergraduate tuition rises 6% a year:

SJSU adds mandatory campus fees for the student association, student union, health services and technology. In fall 2024 those came to $1,163 per term. Nonresidents pay additional tuition per unit. The fee pages on SJSU's bursar site still showed earlier terms when we checked, so treat any specific figure beyond the CSU tuition as a hedge and confirm with the bursar.

Adults who want university classes without full admission should check SJSU's International and Extended Studies office, which runs programs from a building at 384 S. Second Street. For noncredit learning closer to Palo Alto, see our Stanford Continuing Studies guide.

The King Library

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library is the campus building most useful to the general public. It is run jointly by SJSU and the San Jose Public Library, the first collaboration of its kind between a university and a major U.S. city. The eight-story library opened on August 1, 2003 at a cost of $177 million and holds about 1.3 million volumes. San Jose's first public library stood on the same site from 1901 to 1936.

Anyone can walk in. A San Jose Public Library card gives borrowing privileges. A children's and teen center serves families. SJSU suggests it as a stop for K to 8 school groups. The Beethoven and Steinbeck centers are also housed in the library.

Venues and events open to the public

• Provident Credit Union Event Center. The campus arena seats about 5,000 for sports and more than 6,500 for concerts.
• CEFCU Stadium. The football stadium, formerly Spartan Stadium, stands on South Campus about a mile south of the main campus. A new athletics center opened beside it in August 2023.
• Hammer Theatre Center. A downtown performing arts venue on Paseo de San Antonio that SJSU operates, with university and touring shows.
• Campus art. The Victory Salute statue honoring Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos stands on campus.

Downtown is a short walk away. Our guides to the San José Museum of Art and San Jose Japantown cover two nearby stops.

Campus tours

SJSU's student ambassadors lead several kinds of tours, booked online:

1. Student and family tours: one hour, led by student ambassadors.
2. Saturday tours: one hour on select Saturdays, for individuals and families only.
3. School and group tours: outdoor walking tours for up to 50 people. Guided tours are not offered for elementary or middle school groups.
4. Self-guided tours: a downloadable map leads past campus landmarks at your own pace.

Guided tours start at the Welcome Center on the north side of the Student Union. To cancel or reschedule, use the link in your confirmation email or call 408-924-2564. Dress in layers, since the whole tour is outdoors. Our college visit plan explains how to fit SJSU into a trip built around Stanford.

Parking

For tours, SJSU suggests the North Parking Garage and gives 60 S. 9th Street as the GPS address. From the garage, cross San Fernando Street and walk toward the Student Union. Campus garages and Lots 1, 4, 7 and 8 have short-term spaces with 20 or 30 free minutes for drop-offs and errands. For longer visits, buy a daily permit through SJSU's parking pages. At busy times the university points visitors to the city's 4th and San Fernando garage at 44 S. Fourth Street, across from the King Library, which has its own rates.

Frequently asked questions