Eastlake's Promised University: What You Can Enroll In Today, and What's Still a Plan
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
If you're looking at homes in Eastlake, you've probably heard that a four-year university is coming to eastern Chula Vista. Right now, a student in South County can finish a bachelor's degree from UC San Diego, San Diego State or Cal State San Marcos without leaving Chula Vista. Those classes meet at Southwestern College on Otay Lakes Road. They don't meet on the 383 acres of city-owned land south of Hunte Parkway, where the university district is supposed to go. For the campus on that land, the city has a planning task force, a governance proposal under review, and a report due to the Legislature on July 1, 2027. The only building the city counts as the district's first phase is a library.
For a family comparing Eastlake with other neighborhoods, that gap is the whole story. College access here is real and you can use it today. The campus on the renderings is a governance and financing question that will take years to answer.
Southwestern College runs a University Center inside the Instructional Discovery Complex on its Chula Vista campus. It's in Building 24-112 at 900 Otay Lakes Rd, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Partner universities teach upper-division courses there, so students who start at the community college can finish a four-year degree on the same campus.
The Southwestern College University Center page lists these programs and start dates as of fall 2026:
| University partner | Degree | Listed start |
|---|---|---|
| UC San Diego | B.S. in Public Health | Fall 2026 |
| San Diego State | B.A. in Psychology, Industrial and Organizational emphasis | Fall 2026 |
| Cal State San Marcos | B.S. in Business Administration | Fall 2026 |
| Cal State San Marcos | B.S. in Computer Information Systems | Fall 2026 |
| Cal State San Marcos | B.S. in Cybersecurity | Fall 2027 |
| Cal State San Marcos | B.A. in Human Development, Wellness Coaching emphasis | Fall 2027 |
| Cal State San Marcos | B.S. in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology | Fall 2027 |
The universities' own schedules show classes on the calendar this term. UC San Diego's fall 2026 public health schedule lists PH 40 and PH 157 at its Chula Vista location on the Southwestern campus. SDSU's Southwestern College psychology page lists PSY 319, PSY 344 and PSY 351 for fall 2026 at the SWC University Center. Cal State San Marcos says its Chula Vista classes are held at the University Center.
Other schools take part too. Point Loma Nazarene University lists bachelor's degrees in child development, business administration and criminal justice through the University Center. Arizona State University offers access to its online bachelor's catalog, with some coursework in person. National University lists its offerings as "to be announced soon."
For a household weighing college access, this is the part you can count on today. It's a set of partnership programs at an existing community college campus. Those partnerships are also the model the proposed university district would build on.
The second piece sits at 1775 Millenia Ave in the Millenia neighborhood, just north of the land set aside for the university district. In January 2026, inewsource reported that the city planned to finish the four-story, 168,000-square-foot building by summer. The plan put SDSU School of Nursing and SDSU Global Campus programs on the lower level, the public library on the first and second floors, and a film-production tenant on the top two.
Two of those tenants are in. The City Council approved a 10-year lease for SDSU's nursing program in April and a 15-year lease for Sweetwater Union High School District's Launch Virtual Academy in May. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in September that both programs have moved in and started operating.
The top floors are another matter. Under a non-binding letter of intent signed in December 2024, the Chula Vista Entertainment Complex would lease the third and fourth floors for coworking and post-production space. The 12-month negotiating window in that letter has passed without a signed lease. The Union-Tribune reported that the floors are in a "warm shell" state and can't be occupied without major tenant improvements. If the city doesn't go forward with that tenant, it has no settled backup plan. The Chula Vista Public Library's own pages still describe Millenia as an upcoming library.
The building shows the pattern you'll see across the whole effort. Tenants with a university partner and a signed lease moved in. The parts that depend on a private deal are still waiting.
The university district is planned for roughly 383 acres of city-owned land, with a 35-acre University District proposed as the starting site. The Union-Tribune put the estimated cost at $2.17 billion. The city's University District page calls Millenia Library the district's first phase, lists Phase 1 as under construction with a fall 2026 delivery, and links a master plan for the initial 35 acres. For the university buildings themselves, a city spokesperson told inewsource in January that there were no construction plans while officials waited for the task force's recommendations.
Assembly Bill 662, by Assemblymember David Alvarez, created the South County Higher Education Planning Task Force. It brings together the city, the University of California, Cal State, the community colleges and Sweetwater Union High School District to study the governance, funding and law changes a public four-year university in Chula Vista would require. Here is where it stands:
The proposed structure explains why this is slow. A Joint Powers Authority is a public legal entity that can hold property, issue debt and hire staff. Mexican universities can't legally join one, so staff proposed a companion nonprofit so they could take part. Task force legal counsel Adriana Ochoa called it an early-stage framework. Several members said they couldn't choose a governance model before seeing the financing options, and that's why the finance discussion now comes first.
There's also a legal risk on the table. At the August meeting, task force member David Malcolm suggested asking Alvarez for legislation that would shield the site from future California Environmental Quality Act challenges, based on the city's 2018 environmental impact report. The Union-Tribune quoted his concern:
"If somebody doesn't like the traffic, somebody doesn't like the lighting from the ball field, somebody doesn't like the noise … and all of a sudden we find ourselves in a lawsuit for years."
Ochoa said the task force could recommend that kind of bill, but it would need to go on a future agenda. Even after governance and funding are settled, the site could face environmental litigation.
A second bill could have moved faster. Alvarez's AB 664 would have let Southwestern College offer a limited number of bachelor's degrees itself, without a university partner. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed AB 664 on September 27, 2026. The bill's legislative history records that action.
With that route closed for now, bachelor's degrees in South County will keep coming through partner universities at Southwestern and SDSU's space at Millenia, until the task force's governance and finance work leads somewhere.
The university district is a real plan with real public momentum. Beyond Millenia Library, it isn't something a buyer can use yet, and nothing in the task force timeline sets a construction date for university buildings. Here's what that means when you compare Eastlake with other neighborhoods:
Is there a university campus in Eastlake now? No standalone university campus exists. Bachelor's programs from partner universities meet at Southwestern College's Chula Vista campus, and SDSU's nursing and Global Campus programs use space in the Millenia Library building.
Where would the university district go? On city-owned land south of Hunte Parkway near the Millenia neighborhood, with a 35-acre University District proposed as the starting site within roughly 383 acres.
Can Southwestern College grant its own bachelor's degrees? The bill that would have allowed a limited number, AB 664, was vetoed on September 27, 2026.
Who sits on the task force? By law it includes representatives from SDSU, Southwestern College, UC San Diego, the City of Chula Vista and Sweetwater Union High School District, plus a public member appointed by the city and appointees of the Assembly Speaker and the Senate President pro Tempore.
If you're comparing Eastlake with other neighborhoods, or you're an Eastlake owner wondering whether the university talk is already in your home's price, the Jim Bottrell Team can walk you through what nearby sales show today. Start with a free home valuation.
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