As of 2007, 8.7 percent of people employed in California worked in healthcare and social assistance. This contributes to ambulatory healthcare services and hospitals being, respectively, the fifth and sixth largest subsectors of the California economy. The CSU has been a consistent supporter of these industries by graduating 44 percent of all health- or medical-related bachelor's students in California and 37 percent of all master's students.

These numbers only tell part of the story. The CSU also is growing the number of graduates supporting the health fields: 33 percent more CSU students are studying biological sciences in 2009 than in 2003. Furthermore, 77 percent more CSU students are studying health professions than did in 2003. Nearly one in 10 CSU graduate students studied health sciences in the 2008-09 academic year.​