ASU could be offering undergraduate programs on a former middle school campus in Lake Havasu as early as fall 2012.
The campus, part of a developing, low-cost program called Colleges@ASU, has been in the works for more than a year, but a lack of financial commitment from potential host cities has delayed the project by about 12 months, ASU President Michael Crow said.
Conversations with several interested cities started as early as two years ago, but the economy prevented most from providing suitable facilities.
Part of the agreement for creating Colleges@ASU is that the facilities need to be provided for free or close to free by the city in which the campus will be built, Crow said during the Arizona Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
Lake Havasu City has recently been able to make that commitment by agreeing to renovate the campus of the former Daytona Middle School.
The middle school is comprised of seven buildings and was closed after the 2009-2010 academic year because of inefficient operation. The buildings have been vacant since then.
Havasu Foundation for Higher Education spokesman Bill Ullery said at this point, progress is solely dependent on funding raised by the foundation.
“We’re quite certain that what we face in renovation costs for the Daytona site we can handle,” he said. “We’re quite confident that through private sources and businesses, we’ll be able to raise the money for that start-up and the operational shortfall of the first four years. It’s going to be difficult, but we absolutely have the ability to raise the funds.”
Because the campus will contribute greatly to Lake Havasu’s economy and work force, Ullery said he is certain local businesses will be willing to invest.
“There are going to be no state tax dollars involved in the acquisition of the campus or for the operation,” he said. “We’re getting funding totally from private sources.”
Colleges@ASU is designed to offer low-cost options for students by eliminating start-up costs and programs that typically boost tuition on other, full-scale campuses, said senior vice president and university planner Richard Stanley.
“The idea is we would try to create campuses that are small and focus exclusively on undergraduate education and offering a limited number of majors that we would be able to do for significantly lower tuition than would be charged at research campuses,” he said. “The hope is the colleges will provide both a wider range of geographical and learning style options.”
The original goal was to set tuition at Colleges@ASU campuses no higher than current Pell Grant rates in order to create an option for Pell-eligible students to attend ASU with no additional tuition costs, Stanley said.
However, because of the lack of state funding, this is no longer an option.
According to a presentation by ASU Provost Elizabeth Capaldi at the ABOR meeting last week, tuition at Lake Havasu will be set at approximately $6,000 per year. Current Pell Grants are offered for up to $5,550 per year.
The Havasu campus will eventually offer five or six low-cost degrees, although only one or two programs may be operating initially, Stanley said.
It has not yet been decided which degrees will be offered, but possibilities include bachelor’s degrees in communication, business and education.
New faculty for the programs would be hired, not moved from other campuses, Stanley said.
Political science sophomore Rachel Leach, who was born and raised in Lake Havasu, said she thinks the campus is a great idea, but she would not consider transferring there.
“If I was still in high school and still living there and considering which university I wanted to go to, then I would consider it,” she said. “But for me, I grew up in Havasu all my life and was ready to move on to a bigger city with more opportunities.”
Although she acknowledged the benefits of the smaller campus for some students, she said she felt she would miss out on many opportunities and experiences she has had at the Tempe campus, and that the main campus is a better fit for her.
However, Ullery said he believes students from around the state will enjoy the Havasu campus and the surrounding area.
“We think students will love that site,” he said. “The lake views are awesome. The beaches are only a short distance. The campus is only one block from the entertainment district of Main Street. Student housing is next-door or at most one to three blocks away, also in the Downtown district.”
Reach the reporter at keshoult@asu.edu
