“My parents were super thankful I got a scholarship and excited that they could go to my games,” said Stratton, a power forward from Chula Vista. “And as much as I enjoy basketball, I know there’s life after sports, and I appreciate that CSUSM provides student-athletes with the resources to succeed at both.”

Stratton came to Cal State San Marcos after competing at a community college. He chose CSUSM because it allowed him to continue playing the sport he loves while earning a degree in finance. 

For second-year student-athlete Portia Polo, scholarship support has provided a different kind of opportunity: the freedom to focus fully on school and sports. Polo came to CSUSM from Washington state with plans to study public health while competing for the Cougars. 

“Thanks to athletic and academic scholarships, I can focus on sports and school without the stress of making ends meet,” Polo said. “A scholarship is not just financial assistance; it’s a vote of confidence in my potential.” 

Stories like Stratton’s and Polo’s inspired Cougar supporters to step up in a big way. CSUSM Foundation Board Director Carleen Kreider and College of Business Administration lecturer Dick Lansing established a matching gift challenge to expand scholarship opportunities for basketball student-athletes. 

Scholarships Create Opportunity 

As a NCAA Division II program and member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, CSUSM competes in one of the strongest conferences in the nation. Cougar student-athletes balance practices, travel and competition while working toward their degrees and preparing for careers beyond athletics. 

Yet compared with many conference peers, the CSUSM men's and women's basketball programs remain among the lowest funded in scholarship support. Additional scholarship resources help the university recruit and retain talented student-athletes while making a CSUSM education more accessible. 

“When you meet these student-athletes, you understand why this matters,” Kreider said. “They're talented, driven and committed to their education. We want them to feel supported financially and emotionally by a community that believes in them.” 

“Scholarships give student-athletes the opportunity to earn a degree while competing at a high level,” Lansing added. “When we invest in them, we're impacting their futures, their families, our university and our community.” 

Join Us This Season 

As the Cougars prepare to tip off a new basketball season, fans have another opportunity to support student-athlete success. 

Whether you're cheering from the stands at the Sports Center or making a gift to scholarships, your support helps students like Stratton and Polo pursue their academic and athletic goals at CSUSM. 

Check out the men's basketball schedule and women's basketball schedule, attend a game, and show your support for Cougar student-athletes. 

All gifts count toward CSUSM’s Blueprint for the Future fundraising campaign. 

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, communications specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The CSUSM Cougar Fund, a team of undergraduate finance students, released its first newsletter for spring 2020, which reported on initial postings of exchange-traded funds highly correlated with 11 sectors of the S&P 500. The newsletter reviewed purchased ETFs since October 2019 and the portfolio returns during the COVID-19 financial crisis.  

The team not only reviewed decisions for purchase options but also provided a comprehensive market review. Students offered insightful predictions for post-COVID-19 growth in industries such as information technology and energy, as well as cause for sustaining current holdings in companies such as Boeing and Disney.  

“Our analysts are hard at work for companies that offer significant value given the current environment and have strong balance sheets to weather this storm,” said Colin Andrews, who graduated from CSUSM this month with a bachelor’s degree in finance and was the fund’s chief investment officer. “We view this as an opportunity to gain long-term positions in strong companies that will be staples in our portfolio for the foreseeable future.” 

At the time of the newsletter’s publication on May 5, the Cougar Fund reported a return of minus 2.56%, which is a substantially smaller loss when compared to the S&P market return of minus 4.93%.  

The inaugural Cougar Fund is maintaining its mission to provide students with real-world portfolio management and security analysis experience, while also generating revenue for student scholarships and programs.  

“The organizational structure that Colin Andrews and his team have created will set the foundation for motivated students for years to come,” said Taylor Sutherland, chair of the finance and investment committee of the CSUSM Foundation Board. “I’m very excited to bear witness to the real-world investment management experience the Cougar Fund will bring to CSUSM business students today and in the future.” 

“These students are an incredibly motivated and smart group who exceeded expectations and did not stop working even in the worst of circumstances,” added Dr. Andreas Rauterkus, chair of CSUSM’s finance department and the Cougar Fund’s faculty adviser. “This is experiential learning at its best. I am so very proud of them and their accomplishments.”