Southern has adopted a group of peer institutions to use for various comparisons and benchmarking. Southern's peer institutions were most recently reviewed and approved by the CSUS Board of Trustees in 2013.

In choosing our peer institutions, the following criteria were considered:

• Public institution
• Carnegie classification
• Size of student body
• Number of full-time faculty
• Degree of urbanization, location
• Full-time, part-time student ratios
• Per student expenditure
• Six-year graduation rate
• SAT scores
• Graduate programs, including doctoral program

The 13 peer institutions represent a range on these characteristics to provide some "aspirational" schools, as well as schools who are very similar to us.

• California State University-Chico 
• Kean University/New Jersey  
• Montclair State University  
• Saint Cloud State University 
• Bridgewater State University 
• Buffalo State SUNY
• Indiana State University 
• Rhode Island College 
• Southeast Missouri State University
• University of Michigan-Dearborn
• University of Nebraska at Omaha
• University of Northern Colorado
• William Paterson University of New Jersey