Dive Brief:
- San Francisco city officials are inviting the University of California system to open a campus in their downtown area, citing “a set of remarkable opportunities” that it could provide students.
- Mayor London Breed and City Attorney David Chiu wrote to the UC regent board chair Tuesday, making a case that the city is a hub for fast-growing industries like artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
- “A number of properties” in the area could serve as a mixed-use UC campus and could accommodate student housing, the officials wrote.
Dive Insight:
Economic pressures could stand in the way of UC expanding so significantly.
At the same time, the prospect of new student housing could entice the system. It’s contending with a housing crisis, as options remain limited and inflation drives up prices.
California policymakers have tried to step in, including last year by sending $4 billion in loans and grants to the state’s three public higher education systems to pay for affordable housing. However, with the state’s budget deficit growing, the governor has sought to delay some of that funding.
Breed and Chiu cited the student housing shortage in their letter, noting a potential campus could relieve some of those pressures. They wrote they’d like to find a formal way to explore opening a campus.
“We believe that bringing students to a City that is both brimming with culture and serves as the region’s economic powerhouse provides them with the opportunity to learn and live in a vibrant and world class metropolitan center,” they wrote.
UC enrolled more than 230,400 undergraduates in fall 2022, roughly the same as the prior year.