Coastline College opens Student Services Center at Fountain Valley location

Coastline College opened its new Student Services Center this week to much fanfare by campus officials and students.

The college, which has several campuses in Orange County, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning at its Fountain Valley location for the new building, which will allow it to support and expand student counseling, financial aid, its career center, transfer center and admissions office, officials said.

Celebrations included performances from mariachi entertainers, dragon dancers and speakers, including developers that worked on the project and Coastline’s executive staff.

“I’m very proud to have this as the latest jewel of architecture in Fountain Valley, and it is set up to leverage the current tools and technology and strategies to provide first-class service to our students whether it be in person or at a distance,” said Coastline College president Vince Rodriguez.

John Bruning, the Coastline College president of the student government, center, and Mary Hornbuckle, the president of the board for the Coast Community College District, along with fellow trustees and politicians cut the ribbon during the grand opening of the Coastline College’s Student Services Center.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

Construction on the 53,000-square-foot project began in February last year.

The center replaces the college’s previous Student Services Center, which was opened in 1983. Rodriguez said the old building was established with the intent to make it as flexible for use as possible as the college was coming into its identity.

“Now that the college is over 45 years old, there isn’t much change in how we do things. We’ve grown already for 45 years. We are at a point now that we can design a building that fits the needs and still provides flexibility,” Rodriguez said.

The new center is up to date with current earthquake standards and is laid out in such a way that it’s a “one-stop” shop for students, he noted.

Students will be able to get in touch with campus employees both remotely and in person. Rodriguez said a front counter is staffed by representatives from all the different departments so that a student can be helped with roughly 99% of their problems without having to roam the building in search of help.

Coastline College employees give tours of the new Student Services Center building during the grand opening on Thursday.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

“We come to them,” he said.

The building is also a great deal more energy efficient and features a number of windows to allow daylight to fill the center.

Rodriguez said construction on the building actually finished during the summer — three months ahead of schedule — but that its opening had to be delayed until November because of supply chain issues that affected the delivery of furniture and equipment.

Christine Nguyen, the vice president of administrative services at Coastline College, said the total cost of the center was $40 million.

The project was funded by Measure M, a $698-million bond measure for Coast Community College District passed by district voters in 2012 for facility rehabilitation and construction.

Alison Carlock and Claudia Mojica, right, speak to members of the community during the grand opening of the Coastline College of Orange County’s Student Services Center building.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

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