Cal State San Marcos is opening an off-campus center in Temecula in response to rapid enrollment growth from that region.
The center will open in August and offer its Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, as well as career technical education courses in areas such as medical billing and employee management skills.
The goal will be to make this a full-fledged branch campus within five years, with additional degree-granting programs that compliment the region's industry.
Matthew Ceppi, chief of staff to Cal State San Marcos President Karen Haynes, said the timing is right.
Thirteen percent of the 9,159 students enrolled in the university last fall were from Riverside County, up from 8.2 percent three years earlier. And the city approached California State University San Marcos Marcos with the idea.
“We said if the CSU is going to have a presence in the community they're going to have to provide for that to happen,” Ceppi said.
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Overview
Background: Cal State San Marcos is among the fastest-growing campuses in the California State University system, thanks in part to residents in southwest Riverside County.
What's happening: The university is planning to open an off-campus center in Temecula in August.
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And the city is doing just that. It is establishing a nonprofit foundation to raise money to fund the facility. Paul Goldring Garrett, founder and chairman of a Temecula land and real estate investment management company, has donated $250,000 toward the lease; more fundraising is needed.
The 15,000-square-foot facility, which will be named the Paul Goldring Garrett Institute for Higher Learning, will be on the second floor of an office building on Tierra Alta Way west of Interstate 15.
Ultimately, the plan would be for the foundation to raise enough funds to build a permanent facility.
“What this really is about is access, especially with rising gas prices,” Ceppi said. “This is about providing access to an affordable, public education institution. Those coming up through the K-12 system have exposure to that, whether they go to a CSU campus or not.”
Temecula Assistant City Manager Aaron Adams said the university's presence in Temecula benefits the community in many ways: It keeps people off the freeway. It helps attract employers. It provides more higher education opportunities to the Temecula Valley Unified School District's approximately 28,000 students, plus thousands more in neighboring communities such as fast-growing Murrieta. And it will provide training to employees at biomedical and biotech companies and other businesses.
The university will partner with Southwest Healthcare System, which is opening a hospital in Temecula, Ceppi said. That partnership will complement the nursing program, he said.
Ceppi said a professional science master's degree program is planned for fall 2009 at the center. And other degree programs will be added that are compatible with local businesses, which includes biotech and a service, hospitality and tourism industry.
There are no initial enrollment estimates for the new center.
Cal State San Marcos got its start as a San Diego State University branch campus before it was founded as a university in 1989.
This would be Cal State San Marcos' first off-campus center.
Sherry Saavedra: (619) 542-4598; sherry.saavedra@uniontrib.com
