Why this matters
Chula Vista stakeholders suggest building a university will increase academic attainment for people in South County, especially Latinos.
The California State Senate on Monday approved a bill that would establish a task force charged with evaluating what it will take to create a public university in Chula Vista.
To move forward with the plan, Gov. Gavin Newsom must sign the bill.
Chula Vista is the largest city in California without a public university offering baccalaureate degree programs, and the second-largest city in San Diego County. Nearly 600,000 residents in South County are without access to these degrees, deeming it a “college desert,” according to a press release from Assemblymember David Alvarez’s office.
Seeing a need, Alvarez, D-San Diego, introduced the bill.
“For too long, the lack of a local four-year public university has held our students and economy back,” Alvarez said in a statement. “South Bay families shouldn’t have to send their kids to another country or state for this opportunity.”
The bill, AB 662, calls for the formation of a “South County Higher Education Task Force” made up of stakeholders from California higher education institutions and Chula Vista. Those stakeholders include the University of California, California State University, California Community Colleges, the city of Chula Vista and Sweetwater Union High School District.
The task force would study what it would take to create a public university in Chula Vista, considering governance and funding models and more, according to a press release from Alvarez’s office.
Chula Vista leaders have been taking steps to prepare for a university.
City officials launched the development of a “University Innovation District” on more than 383 acres of city-owned land in East Chula Vista near State Route 125. As Chula Vista’s expansion grows eastward, the university would sit near new housing developments yielding hundreds of new homes.
This project envisions a bi-national, multi-institutional university that includes collaboration with other state university and college systems. The goal: foster a school-to-job pipeline to meet workforce needs.
Chula Vista Mayor John McCann said he wants to see the University Innovation District become a reality. The move would be “expanding access to higher education, creating local opportunities, and strengthening South County’s future,” he said.
With Newsom’s signature, the newly formed task force would report recommendations to the Legislature by July 1, 2027, on how to move forward.
Type of Content
Brief: An account of a public government proceeding, written and edited by the San Diego Documenters.
