College may spring up in city

Grand Canyon University, a private Christian, for-profit institution, is looking to build a new campus in the Southwest, and the Duke City could be that place. University leaders are also considering Las Vegas, Nev., Tucson and a couple of suburbs east of Phoenix. The school, which has an enrollment of 6,500 at its main Phoenix campus, expects to make a decision within 60 days.

Albuquerque looks like a good choice for a 75- to 100-acre campus that would include classrooms, laboratories, a student union, restaurants and athletic fields, president Brian Mueller said Thursday. The university plans to build new facilities in whichever city it selects.

Grand Canyon wants to enroll 4,000 to 6,000 students and open in fall 2014. It already has a branch campus here — the first outside of Arizona. It also has a branch campus in Tucson.

Mueller said Albuquerque would be a great place, because it’s similar to Phoenix, although with a much smaller population. He said Albuquerque is lacking a private Christian university, and Grand Canyon wants to fill that void.

A Simman 3G is a high fidelity patient simulator that students at Grand Canyon University’s campus in Albuquerque use for practice. The for-profit, Christian university is considering opening a full campus in Albuquerque.

“We would be excited to be there if it were to work out,” Mueller said.

John Garcia, Albuquerque economic development director, said city officials have met with Grand Canyon leaders and would “love to have them here.”

“They just have a great culture in their business as a university, so it’s very intriguing to us,” Garcia said. “For Albuquerque, it would be great to have this kind of a university here, possibly as we expand and as they expand.”

Garcia said talks are in the very early stages, but the city hopes Grand Canyon would cater to a niche market.

“We would hope it would complement rather than compete with the great programs we have at the University of New Mexico here,” he said. “It just adds a variety of different things. For us, the more opportunities we have for educating people, the better. If they did come, maybe (they will) serve a niche that can’t be filled by the University of New Mexico.”

Mueller said the new campus would offer a full curriculum and traditional setting for students, much like the original campus in Phoenix. It would at first be a commuter school, with no dorms, but could eventually add some. Mueller said although the school has not scouted any locations in Albuquerque, it would like to find one that is near an affordable apartment complex for students.

Grand Canyon’s current Albuquerque curriculum is limited to a nursing program that launched in 2011. The program, which offers a bachelor’s degree in nursing through a 20-month accelerated curriculum, outgrew its location at the old Presbyterian hospital on Harper NE near Interstate 25.

The university this week held a grand opening at its new location on the northeast corner of Osuna and Jefferson, which is more than 16,000-square feet. The new building includes classrooms, faculty offices, a student lounge, conference rooms and recruiting. The program is geared toward working adults.

A new Grand Canyon campus here would offer a wide variety of degrees but would focus on sciences, engineering and technology.

And it would offer tuition rates much lower than the typical private university, Mueller said.

“I would like to emphasize the model that we have is very affordable,” Mueller said.

Tuition and fees cost $16,500 annually. But Mueller said nearly all students are on some form of scholarship, and that the average cost per year ends up being $7,800.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal