Enrollment is open for the soon-to-be ASU campus in Lake Havasu City, which is set to begin classes in fall 2012 for freshmen and transfer students.
The Arizona Board of Regents recently approved the proposal from ASU to lease a vacant junior high facility from the city and convert its use for another University campus.
At ABOR's Sept. 22 meeting in Flagstaff, ASU Vice President and University Planner Richard Stanley said there would be no rent on the facility for the first five years.
In the sixth year, if the Lake Havasu City Unified School District has sufficiently grown to the point where it would have used the facility had it not been occupied, ASU would begin paying rent at the rate of $225,000 per year, Stanley said, adding this is an extremely reasonable rate for a 70,000-square-foot facility.
ASU will be responsible for the delivery and cost of the programs, which include undergraduate degrees in communication, psychology, life sciences and general studies.
“We consider this to be a really good outcome and a good model for how one can put together, with a lot of hard work, the ability to offer programs at lower costs in other parts of the state,” Stanley said.
ASU President Michael Crow commented to the Board on the energy level of Lake Havasu City.
“This has been a fantastic experience for us at ASU, working with a community engaged at this level,” Crow said. “We’re living in the model that we’ve been advancing with other municipalities … which is if you can find a way where you can help us to acquire the facilities and the space that we need to make programs work, then we’re going to get in there an start delivering content for the community.”
Regent Dennis DeConcini commended ASU on the initiative.
“I think this is such a great example of real innovativeness,” he said. “This is really unique.”
Renovations planned include painting, landscaping, updating the biology labs, converting the music room into a lecture hall and possibly building a student center.
The building was built in 2005.
“(Renovations are) minimal, because that building is a newer building,” said Jo Navaretta, president of the Lake Havasu City School Board and chairman for the Lake Havasu Fundraising Project.
Current college–age students who reside in Lake Havasu City must either travel to ASU, NAU, UA or out-of-state learning institutions to pursue their post-secondary education.
The new campus will encourage students to stay local since the cost of tuition will be less per year than if they went to Tempe, Navaretta said.
“That will be a determining factor right there, why people might stay (locally),” she said.
Navaretta also said they are expecting a large draw from California residents.
“Our rate of tuition is going to be probably less by about $5,000 than the cost to attend in California,” Navaretta said. “So Arizona schools are looking pretty good.”
The creation of a Lake Havasu City campus will also boost job creation in Lake Havasu City, said Nello Ruscitti, board member of the Havasu Foundation for Higher Education.
“It would transform our city demographic in a very positive way,” he said. “It will provide an economic stimulus for us. There are intangible benefits there.”
Rucscitti also said ASU will be able to enroll more students by providing a lower cost alternative to traveling to either Tempe or other campuses.
“(It is) a model that will provide education access to students who would otherwise not be able to afford to travel,” Rucscitti said.
Reach the reporter at kmmandev@asu.edu
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