In less than a week, the new COS campus in Tulare will be packed. Students will be starting classes and many of them, like Connor Jansma, won't even have to crash. "Makes me feel better because you have more opportunity to take the classes you wanted," Jansma said.
This is the 3rd COS campus in the Valley. It took $42 Million and nearly three years to build. A lot of the money was funded by Measure J.
Superintendent Stan Carrizosa says it was a commitment to the taxpayers and students, "When this idea was born, we were growing we were in a growth mode, we were anticipating more students and more state money," he added.
COS did get more students, a lot more. It also lost $4.5 Million in state funding. The number of classes dwindled, making it harder for students to get in. Carrizosa says the new campus will reduce some of the stress.
"We're figuring out how to re-allocate the existing resources we have, divide up some of the services on the main campus and spread them out to our alternative campuses," he said.
It's a relief for Lacey Mayhew, she's an Ag student, something the new campus focuses on, "We don't have to fight the crowd...all the other people that are there and try to squeeze our way into a class...here there's room."
Classes begin on Monday. Measure J played a big role in opening the new campus. It was approved by voters back in 2008.
TXT 24
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