Chula Vista city officials will continue negotiations for three additional months with the University of Saint Katherine, in hopes of finally bringing a university to Chula Vista.
The Chula Vista City Council in May unanimously approved its first 90-day extension of an exclusive negotiation agreement with the University of Saint Katherine, its first extension since entering into an exclusive negotiation agreement on Jan. 23.
Phase two of the agreement will evaluate the university’s financial capabilities to build, maintain and operate a new facility on the University and Innovation District property.
“In this next phase, we really want to focus in on the ability of Saint Katherine’s to make that move onto the University and Innovation District property,” said City Manager Gary Halbert.
The first phase of the agreement focused on the University of Saint Katherine’s academic record.
The nonprofit, private university with its main campus in San Marcos, is in good standing with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and University Commission, a positive for city officials.
The university also has articulation agreements with other institutions of higher education and is currently working on an articulation agreement with Southwestern Community College, said Halbert.
According to a staff memo, articulation agreements are developed for specialized professional or technical programs that can be applied to a specific four-year program/major at the receiving university.
University of Saint Katherine offers both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor’s of Science degree programs.
Bachelor of Arts disciplines include art, business management, history, literature, interdisciplinary studies, music and Orthodox Christian Theology, while the Bachelors of Science program includes degrees in biochemistry and chemistry, biological sciences and kinesiology.
Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said after reviewing the University of Saint Katherine she became very satisfied with their academic credentials.
“In my estimation, they passed the first hurdle,” Casillas Salas said about possibly bringing an extension of the university
Casillas Salas added that the University of Saint Katherine offers similar financial aid packages as most universities. Their financial aid package includes Cal Grants and Pell Grants, like most state funded universities.
She said the $23,000 annual tuition cost for the University of Saint Katherine was not an issue because of the financial aid packages students can receive. She also said the annual tuition cost to attend the University of Saint Katherine is about the average cost of a state college.
University of Saint Katherine bills itself as an independent, Orthodox Christian institution of higher education.
Councilwoman Pat Aguilar asked staff to come back to council in the next 90-days with a better understanding between the relationship of the university and the eastern church.
She also questioned if it was constitutional for a public body to lease land to a religiously orthodox affiliated institutional below market value.
The memo states that the school does not receive any financial support from any church organization or any organizational hierarchy and no board member are clergy or employed by the church.
The City Attorney’s office said their research shows that there are legal limitations the council needs to be sensitive to deriving from the First Amendment of the United States Constitution’s establishment clause of religious institutions.
“One thing that clear is that religious affiliation of a school is not by any stretch a disqualifying factor to government providing assistance to the school,” City Attorney Glen Googins said.
Casillas Salas said the community at large still wants a public university in Chula Vista. She said Saint Katherine University plans to only use 10-acres of the 375-acre university and innovation district, allowing Chula Vista to potentially bring a public university in the future.
“We will not stop our efforts or cease our efforts to attract a quality public institution to that site,” the mayor said.
