Drexel University to Open Graduate Studies Program in California

Published 03 June 08 02:14 PM | Student Loan Girl

Pennsylvania–based Drexel University is planning to establish a graduate studies center and perhaps a “full-blown bi-coastal university” in California after receiving a 1,100-acre land offer just north of Sacramento from a group of real estate developers, according to an article in Inside Higher Ed (“Higher Ed Gold Rush?” May 29, 2008).

Drexel, following a similar move by Pittsburgh–based Carnegie Mellon University to launch software engineering programs in California in 2002, has expressed interest in establishing a west-coast presence due, in part, to the declining number of college students in its home state. By 2025, the state of Pennsylvania will have approximately one million college-aged students, fewer than were there in 1995, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

To establish Drexel’s brand on the west coast and to grow the institution in a state with a booming college population, the school has established a $10 million fellowship fund. The money will be awarded to students based on both need and merit, with the intention of attracting some 650 students in its first five years.

The Drexel University Center for Graduate Studies in Sacramento will offer five master’s programs including business administration, information systems, higher education, engineering management, and library and information sciences beginning in January, 2009, and will add four more in September.

“This idea of starting up a new campus, particularly within an entirely different regional area, that’s certainly something you’re not seeing very much,” said Donald Heller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Pennsylvania State University. “I think it’s something a lot of other institutions are going to be watching.”