Vanguard University is planning an extensive renovation and expansion of its Costa Mesa campus in an effort to boost enrollment by more than 25%.
The private, Christian university of liberal arts and professional studies is in the early stages of getting approvals for a massive undertaking at its 38-acre campus, where it’s been since 1950.
It’s proposed to the city a new campus master plan “comprised of at least 12 separate projects that involve the removal and/or reconstruction of buildings on the campus.”
A new gym and events center, student center, Stem & Kinesiology facility, housing project for up to 300 students, and maintenance facilities are being considered, among other new structures that would be built in several phases over multiple years.
Costa Mesa’s planning commission was initially scheduled to conduct a public hearing on the proposal this week but pushed the hearing to mid-May.
The university hasn’t disclosed a preferred construction schedule. Vanguard officials didn’t respond to requests for comment on the proposal last week.
Its campus is at the intersection of Fair Drive and Newport Boulevard next to Costa Mesa City Hall and just south of the Orange County Fair & Event Center.
Campus institutional and recreational facilities are currently capped at just under 414,000 square feet, according to project documents filed with the city. The combined square footage of the projects the school proposed wasn’t disclosed.
Since a number of existing facilities would be razed to make way for development, it appears the project wouldn’t exceed the entitlement cap, and therefore wouldn’t require voter approval through the city’s slow-growth Measure Y initiative enacted in 2016.
2,700-Student Cap
A campus overhaul has been in planning stages for several years. The school’s 2015-16 annual report notes that the plan “merges the needs of a growing campus, technological innovation, and a modern twist on residential college in the 21st century.”
The university offers 25 fields of study for undergraduates, as well as professional studies and graduate programs.
It estimates that as of the end of last year, its land, buildings and equipment were valued at about $35 million and comprised about 65% of total assets.
The school hasn’t disclosed its plan for financing a campus development. Last year, its endowment exceeded $5 million for the first time, according to its latest annual report.
Its long-term debt is under $15 million, down more than 50% over the past decade, when it updated a few facilities, according to Vanguard financial documents.
The school enrolls 2,098 students, according to city documents. Under the proposed master plan, updated facilities would allow up to 2,700 students.
Tuition costs about $30,000 a year, not including room and board, according to data from market tracker website College Simply, which says most Vanguard students receive financial aid, total grant aid averaging a little more than $18,000 per year.
OCC, Whittier
Vanguard isn’t the only university in Costa Mesa whose facilities are in flux.
Orange Coast College’s 164-acre campus on the opposite side of the OC fairgrounds from Vanguard, is getting an overhaul as part of its Vision 2020 Facilities Master Plan approved in 2015.
Over $450 million in improvements have been earmarked for the site, where more than 25,000 students are enrolled each semester.
Three miles north of the fairgrounds, operations at the Costa Mesa campus of Whittier Law School appear to be winding down.
The campus was sold in January 2017 to a third party, and about a year ago the school announced it would stop accepting new applicants and close after its current students graduate.
The new campus owners, a foreign-backed entity based in Arcadia, haven’t announced plans for the site, and the law school hasn’t announced whether classes will continue there after the current semester ends.
