SF State welcomes thousands of new Gators to campus
Hundreds of students moved into their dorm rooms Aug. 11 and 12
- By Steve Hockensmith
As San Francisco State University geared up for the 2023 – 2024 academic year, set to begin Monday, Aug. 21, thousands of students came to campus for Move-In Day Aug. 11 and 12. Around 4,500 students will be living on campus this fall — one of the highest numbers ever for the University thanks partially to Manzanita Square, a 170-unit mixed-use residential center that became home to hundreds of students in 2020. (And 750 more on-campus beds are on the way courtesy of the new residence hall currently under construction on the West Campus Green.)
San Francisco State will have more than 20,500 students for the fall semester: approximately 5,500 new and 15,000 returning. The University is helping them get into the swing of the semester with GatorFest!, a series of more than 40 events aimed at helping students connect with peers, explore campus and have fun.
“Fall is my favorite time of year on campus because the entire community comes together to welcome our newest student scholars into our academic family,” said Miguel Ángel Hernández, SF State’s associate vice president for student life and dean of students. “Our welcome process extends beyond move-in weekend. Over the next eight weeks, all students will have the opportunity to engage, connect and share space intentionally designed for students to feel like they belong at SF State! I encourage everyone on campus to visit our GatorFest 2023 website to see upcoming events and programs. I am excited to continue meeting students during these events.”
Reconnecting with friends is what Madison, a transfer student originally from Burbank, says she’s looking forward to most in the weeks ahead. She enrolled at SF State because she’d already fallen in love with living in San Francisco but discovered that degree programs in her field of interest — fashion design — are hard to find at other area schools. (SF State offers a B.S. in Apparel Design and Merchandising.)
“I’m excited to see my friends again because I miss them a lot,” she said. “We’re from different places across the country, so when we come together here we can see each other again.”
Academics and SF State’s unique campus community were top draws for new student Taylor, too.
“I’m in more of a liberal arts field — English with a concentration in Linguistics. So I knew this school was really good for that on top of the diversity that the school promotes,” she said. “I’m not really used to that from the city I’m from. So I was very attracted to that aspect of it. Plus knowing people who go here who’ve had a great experience made it really easy to be like, ‘O.K. SFSU is where I’ll be.’”