Nearly 300 people gathered on Vanguard University’s 40-acre campus for the recent groundbreaking of its $10.4 million student center, which will take on the Spanish Mission-style look of its newer buildings and replace an existing cafe and bookstore.
The Costa Mesa-based Christian university got the green light in June from the city planning commission as part of a proposed campus master plan. A vote on the entire plan is scheduled for this week after Vanguard received additional time to address neighbors’ concerns about the move of its maintenance and operations facilities to the southwest corner of campus at 55 Fair Drive.
The student center is part of an extensive 12-building project to build facilities and renovate existing ones in order to give its student body room to stretch—potentially boosting enrollment by over 25% by 2020.
President Michael Beals said the updates are long overdue as its student body continues to grow and because of the fact that the campus needs a central hub.
“The student center and the master plan is really towards the needs of a diverse student population and a changing workplace,” he said. “We have to listen a lot and be very aware, because competing with some of the other schools can be difficult head-to-head, but there’s a place for Vanguard with our commitment to diversity and student success.”
The 35,000-square-foot student center will be the biggest campus gathering space and is scheduled to open in 2020.
Amenities include eateries and late-night options; multiple dining rooms; a 3,000-square-foot gym; and an 8,000-square-foot recreational center that converts into meeting and events space—880 people for a lecture or 400 for a banquet.
It’s the first project in the proposed 30-year master plan, which was created in partnership with Newport Beach-based HPI Architecture.
Vice President of Student Affairs Tim Young said the formal plan is a first for the 98-year-old institution.
“When President Beals came on [in 2013], his job description was to maintain a master plan, so the first thing he did was green-light the development of the campus master plan,” he said.
When Vanguard finished the Scott Academic Center in 2015, its first new building in a decade, it did so with a conditional-use permit under a minor master plan change.
“It was the only mechanism the city had to process the fact that we didn’t have a master plan. So as we began the process of developing the master plan, the city was really happy, and we collaborated with them from day one,” Young said.
There are 12 projects in the pipeline, including on-campus housing for 300 students, a STEM and kinesiology facility, state-of-the-art library, and a 400-space parking garage.
To help cover the costs of the expansion, it established a $12.9 million capital campaign, $10.4 million for the student center and $2.5 million toward its endowment, and plans to finance the other costs. The university has so far raised $8.6 million, Beals said.
Its long-term debt is under $15 million, down more than 50% over the past decade, according to university financial documents.
“Our long-term debt is the same level as 1994,” Beals said. “We have been reducing debt as part of our overall [focus on] sustainability and because we have lower debt, it allows us to work on projects.”
Taking Shape
Vanguard isn’t alone. Development at area schools is in overdrive. Some notable projects include:
• Orange Coast College’s 164-acre campus on the opposite side of the OC fairgrounds from Vanguard is getting a $450 million facelift that includes plans such as on-campus student housing, adaptive physical education and fitness facilities, and a new math, business and computing center (see story, page 20).
• Construction started last month at the University of California-Irvine’s Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building, which is designed to foster cross-disciplinary research in engineering, computing and the physical sciences. School officials estimate costs are about $120 million, $30 million of that from the Samueli Foundation, $50 million from the state, and $40 million in UCI funds. It also opened the doors of a $67 million, 65,000-square-foot “active learning” building last month.
• In the city of Tustin, an Advanced Technology & Education Park is underway, headed by the South Orange County Community College District, which includes Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College. Both institutions will have facilities at the 55.8-acre site off Red Hill Avenue.
• Last year, Irvine City Council approved Concordia University’s $200 million plan to renovate its 70-acre campus. The private Lutheran university is planning to add facilities, such as a new music and worship center, athletic field lighting, and a science and nursing building.
Bright Future
Vanguard was established as a Bible college in 1920 in a 15-room house in Highland Park by Hulda and Harold Needham. It eventually moved to its current site in 1950.
The university has grown immensely since then, offering 25 undergraduate fields of study, as well as professional studies and graduate programs.
Total enrollment is 2,200, but with the updated and new facilities proposed in the master plan, it could add up to 500 students, growing its student body almost 25%.
Tuition costs are $32,000 to $42,000 a year, including room and board.
Beals said it’s important for the university to take a thoughtful approach to how it expands the campus and its programs as it strives to be a nationally recognized leader in Christian higher education. He said the key is remaining focused on its mission.
“Academic excellence, character development, and global perspective are the seeds of greatness of a Vanguard education,” he said. “Whether [students are] coming as a commuter or whether they’re living in the dorm, they are immersed in an environment where these seeds of greatness are being cultivated.”
