Chapman Looks to Expand Enrollment

Chapman University is preparing for growth, and the Orange-based school is optimistic that the city of Orange will support its plans to expand. 

Orange County’s largest private university recently asked the city to increase its enrollment capacity from its current 9,000 limit by a little more than 16%, to 10,500 students.

“We still have capacity on campus, and we have a lot of demand,” President Daniele Struppa recently told the Business Journal.

“We get 15,000 applications every year, and we’d like to meet that demand.”

A boost of another 1,500 students could add tens of millions more in revenue to the school. While Chapman’s current tuition is more than $50,000, many students receive scholarships.

It’s the final time that Chapman expects to expand enrollment at its Orange campus, Struppa said. 

Struppa added that “virtually all of the growth” will come from engineering.

Chapman’s engineering school now has about 315 students and can accommodate 800. The school’s Keck Center for Science and Engineering, the newest building on campus, opened last year.

About two-thirds of the 140,000-square-foot layout is for Chapman’s Schmid College of Science and Technology, named for a family of engineers and entrepreneurs who’ve supported the university since 1965.

The engineering school will use the remaining third—its interior is scheduled to open in 2021—and was named for Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler, whose name also adorns Chapman law school.

Projections estimate that the school of engineering will take on about 540 more students by 2023.

Chapman will continue to boost its research capacity, adding robotics labs and research facilities, in addition to six faculty members, at the school of engineering this coming year.

1,301 Beds 

In 2015, Chapman asked the city to permit it to increase its enrollment to 11,650. But the request was met with concern from Old Towne Orange residents over homes in the area being rented out to students, and the school withdrew its request.

Since then, the university has taken several steps to improve its relationship with the city, including forming a Neighborhood Advisory Committee, and adding 1,301 beds for student housing. 

50% of the school’s students currently live in campus facilities, 2 years ahead of plan.

“We put our money where our mouth is,” Struppa said. “We spent about $200 million on the Chapman Grand and The K residences.”

Chapman paid $47.4 million on The K, a 401-bed dorm for students that opened this fall. The housing is just across the street from its Orange campus.  

In 2015, the school purchased the Katella Grand, a new complex in the Platinum Triangle area of Anaheim, for $148 million. It converted the apartments—about 3 miles from the main campus—into student housing totaling 900 beds. It’s now called Chapman Grand.

“Over the last three years, Chapman listened to its neighbors and took strides to address their concerns,” said Mark Murphy, mayor of Orange. “The investments they’ve made in internal housing, with the requirement to house all freshmen and sophomores in [university-owned] housing, has made a big difference.”

“The circumstances are different now,” Murphy said of the new proposal.

He expects the approval process to take until the end of next year at the earliest.

Chapman increased its long-term debt from $236 million to $371 million in 2017 to add the beds. Struppa said he isn’t worried about the debt. 

“Chapman is run with the same affection and attention that we would give to our own families, so that the university is strong now, and 50 years from now,” he said.

Other projects in the pipeline include renovating the dance studio and Hashinger Science Center on campus.

Renovations for its Panther Village Apartments, nestled between the 5 and 57 freeways in Orange, will be in the works for the next three to five years, according to Struppa. 

R2 Institute 

Chapman was recently ranked No. 125 among national universities, according to U.S. News & World Report, following its reclassification as an R2 research institute. 

The reclassification comes after several years of high research activity and a notable increase in funding.

The school received $21.3 million in awards this year, double last year’s total, according to campus officials.

The Office of Research was also established in 2015, which serves as the administrative branch for research, and works to increase industry relationships and the commercialization of technology. 

According to Struppa, the reclassification will have a major impact on the quality of faculty and administration at the school, allowing Chapman to attract more talent.

About 135 institutions in the country have similar R2 classifications; others in the state include Azusa Pacific University, Loyola Marymount University, and the University of San Diego.