College of the Canyons Revenue and Competitors

College of the Canyons is one of California's premier community colleges. It is a public institution with a student population of more than 15,000 that offers associate degree and certificate programs, prepares students for transfer to four-year colleges and universities, provides life-long learning opportunities for community members, and offers employee-training programs for business and industry. Situated on154 acres, the college is one of the fastest-growing and more innovative colleges in the state. It is conveniently located for easy access by community members and the business community. The college's outstanding faculty and state-of-the-art facilities, programs and technologies make it a college of choice for many in surrounding communities. The college's 17 immensely successful men's and women's intercollegiate sports programs traditionally prepare many student athletes for competition at the Division I level. In fact, several former students have been selected in both the NFL and Major League Baseball drafts. The 2004-05 academic year marks the 35th anniversary for College of the Canyons -- a period during which the college has made a sizeable and lasting contribution to the Santa Clarita Valley and those who call this valley home. The year will be marked not only by celebration of past accomplishments, but by new beginnings -- new buildings, new programs, new ideas and new opportunities. Our 35th anniversary year promises to be a busy one with the opening of the Vital Express Center and the beginning of construction on a new music/dance building, a high-tech classroom building, an expansion of the laboratory (L) building with new lab spaces, and more. With voter approval of an $82.1 million bond measure and two statewide bond measures approved between 2001 and 2004, funds for the construction of new facilities will allow the college to build in a way that will accommodate a projected 21,000 enrollment by the year 2010. The college completed a new Facilities Master Plan in 2002 that is a roadmap for build-out of the main campus as well as completion of off-campus educational sites in other areas of the Santa Clarita Valley. In addition, fundraising efforts are nearing completion on a $10 million building that will house a University Center on the College of the Canyons campus. The University Center concept is a simple one. Because of the location of the Santa Clarita Valley and the lack of transportation infrastructure that would allow easy access to four-year universities to the south, west and north, a coalition of community members has decided to raise private funds and build a center in the Santa Clarita Valley that would house several university programs. The plan is to offer bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs -- chosen based on community input -- locally. The idea is such a good one that several universities have already partnered with the college and are offering a variety of programs in a temporary facility. "You will find College of the Canyons to be a unique place, one that goes beyond the role of traditional community college and serves as an exceptional environment to challenge yourself, to prepare for the future, to shape and pursue your goals and to establish a solid foundation of learning. We will continue to expand and mature. The next 35 years will be marked not only by continued growth, but by being responsive to community needs, by responsible management of the public's trust and resources, by excellence in the classroom, by healthy business partnerships, and by an unfaltering desire to be the best."