Willingness of State to Fund Campus Called Crucial

While educational needs are clearly plentiful, Cal State trustees Wednesday said converting the closed Camarillo State Hospital into a four-year public university hinges on one crucial factor: whether the state is willing to provide the tens of millions of dollars needed to make it happen.

“If the state wants a university, fund it,” trustee William D. Campbell said during a meeting of the Cal State committee on campus development. “If the state doesn’t want a university, then why make us split up [money from] all our other campuses?”

Campbell’s position on the plan to convert the closed psychiatric hospital into the Cal State system’s 23rd campus was repeated many times during the two-hour session.

At the meeting, trustees saw the first formal study of what niche Cal State University Channel Islands would fill. They also took a closer look at the financial details.

The committee took no formal action on the plan, but it will be asked to formally approve a conversion plan in September. Two months later, the entire 17-member board must decide whether to include Cal State Channel Islands in its 1998-99 budget.

“I think we’ve obviously got a lot of work to do,” Cal State Channel Islands President J. Handel Evans said after the meeting. “As it comes down to the wire, the questions are being asked louder: How much can you raise? How much do you need? What’s the difference [between them]? Where’s it coming from?”

According to a report presented by Richard P. West, Cal State’s senior vice chancellor for business and finance, it would cost $11.8 million in fiscal 1998-99 to assume control of the 700-acre Camarillo State site and relocate the existing students from Cal State Northridge’s Ventura campus.

Of that total, $4.9 million would come from the state’s regular per-pupil allotment; $400,000 would be generated by leasing some of the site’s 85 buildings to businesses, schools and the like.

That leaves a $6.5-million deficit, which trustees agreed should be the state’s responsibility. But, West hastened to mention, the state is already committed to spending $3.3 million in upkeep on the Camarillo location, even if no one moves in. The state’s tab therefore would be closer to $3.2 million beyond the Cal State system’s existing budget.

It’s estimated that the annual cost of running the university would be about $29.1 million by 2000: $10 million from per-pupil dollars, $1.9 million from leases and $17.2 million additional from the state.

While the conversion sums may seem high, committee Chairman Jim Considine said the state can afford it if the needs of Ventura County are important. And building a school from scratch would cost far more, he added.

“Take a look at how much money we’re talking about on the scale of the state budget,” he said after the meeting. “Everything’s relative. Six million dollars from my personal wallet, it’s huge; but $6 million from the state budget is not that significant.”

Also at the meeting, trustees saw the first formal study documenting Ventura County’s pressing need for a public university.

Among the study’s findings:

* Local residents are far more likely to attend community colleges than four-year institutions.

* Ventura and Santa Barbara counties have far lower-than-average Cal State attendance rates compared to other areas. While an average of 9.2% of high school graduates statewide attend Cal State campuses, the comparable percentages fall to 5.3% in Ventura County and 4.8% in Santa Barbara County.

* Access to a four-year university is far more limited for Latino students, a growing population in both regions.