College Enters Its Chain-Store Era

"Last month, Vanderbilt announced that it was acquiring the facilities of the financially insolvent California College of the Arts and would be converting the space into a new campus. Private universities have been experimenting with satellite campuses for decades. Typically, these outposts are either overseas or limited to a graduate program or two. The Vanderbilt expansion, set to open in 2027, will be different: It will include a full-blown, four-year undergraduate college, not in Abu Dhabi but in the San Francisco Design District."

"Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, is the sort of highly selective institution that jockeys for the unofficial title of Harvard of the South. Recently, the university's chancellor had a new idea: What if Vanderbilt was also in San Francisco? Maybe it could become the Harvard of the West too. Last month, Vanderbilt announced that it was acquiring the facilities of the financially insolvent California College of the Arts and would be converting the space into a new campus."

Vanderbilt is acquiring California College of the Arts facilities to open a full four-year undergraduate campus in San Francisco's Design District, scheduled for 2027. Private universities have long used satellite campuses, typically overseas or for graduate programs, while public systems expanded statewide after World War II. Northeastern pioneered a national-chain undergraduate model in recent years. The Vanderbilt move represents a more ambitious domestic undergraduate outpost and could prompt other selective institutions to replicate the model to build national reputations beyond regional bases.

Read at The Atlantic