SAN DIEGO – “There’s a renaissance happening in South County,” Southwestern College (SWC) President Mark Sanchez said.
With that statement, the local education leader referenced recent developments in the region, like the opening of the $1.35 billion Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center, redevelopment of the 535-acre Chula Vista Bayfront and SWC’s own initiatives.
Among its expansion initiatives, SWC is aiming to build a more accessible higher education pipeline in South County with bill AB 664, which is going through the California Legislature.
If passed, the bill will allow the community college to create up to four additional bachelor’s programs in applied disciplines including forensic studies, allied health education and leadership, teaching English to people who speak other languages, and interaction design.
On Jan. 26, the bill passed with an Assembly vote of 69 to 1 and is now on its way to the state Senate and the governor for approval.
“The larger story is that we’re preparing our citizenry — our community — for the workforce opportunities that exist now and into the future,” Sanchez said.
AB 664 aims to provide education for regional workforce needs that won’t be met in the status quo, Sanchez said, partly because students in South County have a difficult time accessing existing bachelor’s programs.
“They’re either really hard to get into,” Sanchez said. “Or some of those programs are very, very far away and it’s a difficult access point for our students in the South County to enroll in programs to continue their education — to get their degrees.”
California public university systems have opposed the bill, fearing program duplication if more community colleges seek to build their own bachelor’s programs.
SWC students like forensic studies major Marilynn Palomino are the ones who would benefit from AB 664, Sanchez said.
“She’ll graduate from SWC this spring, but the only CSU in the state that has that program is San Jose State University (SJSU),” Sanchez said. “As a single mother with two kids in school here in the South County, her support system is here… For her to just uproot and transfer to SJSU is a very small possibility.”
Thus far, SWC has forged partnerships with University of California, San Diego (UCSD), San Diego State University (SDSU) and California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM), through which SWC offers bachelor’s programs taught on campus by the affiliated universities’ faculty.
According to Sanchez, this partnership represents UCSD’s first time teaching outside of La Jolla and CSUSM’s first time teaching in South County.
Building a Workforce, Education Pipeline
To create a true pathway for South County students, SWC has focused on building early education programs catering to middle and high schoolers.
In fall of 2025, SWC opened the first iteration of its Options Middle College High School in partnership with Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD). The specialty program allows students grades 9 through 12 to fulfill their high school A-G requirements on campus at SWC in the mornings while completing college coursework in the afternoons.
During its first semester, the school accommodated 60 students. Sanchez said that SWC plans to scale up to 300 students after working out any kinks in the program.
Also during the 2025 fall semester, SWC launched a pilot program in which 47 South County middle schoolers enrolled in dance and theater courses at its remodeled performing arts center for college credit. In the near future, Sanchez said SWC plans to establish a similar program for STEM-focused courses.
“We want to scale up that pilot for seventh and eighth graders to a STEM academy so that we get students into the chemistry, biology, physics, algebra [courses]… while they’re still in the seventh and eighth grade,” Sanchez said. “What we’ve found in research is that getting through those courses — oftentimes the most difficult courses they’ll take in their college career — if we can get them through that momentum point, the research shows that students excel.”
If AB 664 was officially signed into law, Sanchez said that SWC would need to commit resources to building infrastructure for the four new bachelor’s degree programs. That means faculty would have to dedicate time to drafting the new courses and getting the proper accreditation.
Ultimately, Sanchez said that the new degree programs would allow SWC to address workforce needs specific to South County.
“We’re graduating these students from our culinary program, and they’re going to work now at the at the Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center,” Sanchez said. “We’ve prepared that workforce. Not only are they hiring our culinary graduates, they’re hiring our fire safety and fire science program graduates. They’re hiring our construction and trades graduates… The bigger story is that we are right on time with the economic development that’s happening in the South County.”
SWC has also forged binational partnerships with institutions like Tijuana-based university CETYS Universidad to support students living across the border.
Elevating South County
In November 2024, the community approved the $800 million bond Measure SW to upgrade SWC’s facilities. Sanchez hopes that, as a part of the effort, SWC can build a STEM center in San Ysidro with the “best wet lab technology that exists in the region.”
SWC also plans on building a business incubator in Otay Mesa.
Sanchez said that SWC is on the upswing. During the pandemic, enrollment dropped about 12%. This year, the college had a headcount of 32,400 students, just shy of SWC’s record enrollment of 34,800 students. Within the next semester or two, Sanchez said SWC anticipates surpassing that record.
“Not a lot of colleges in the country or even in the state can say that they’ve grown that significantly,” Sanchez said. “But it’s because of the partnerships that we built, not only here in the South County and in all of San Diego County, but also with our binational communities on the other side of the border.”
On Feb. 12, SWC is planning to officially announce its new three-year partnership with the University of Southern California (USC), which will start by offering a cohort of the community college’s faculty enrollment in a master’s or doctoral degree taught by USC on SWC’s campus.
SWC will supplement half of the tuition for its faculty whether they decide to enroll in the master’s or the doctoral degree program.
“USC doesn’t have a partnership like this with any other community college, not only in the state, but in the country,” Sanchez said. “SWC is going to be the prototype for how USC approaches their work, working with community colleges into the future.”
The partnership has been three years in the works, Sanchez said. He wanted to reverse the psychology that community college is a “backup option,” and show that SWC is a serious transfer institution.
Associating with USC’s pedigree is the latest step in that direction.
“I started at SWC as a first-time freshman student straight out of high school, and it was not a plan B,” Sanchez said. “I was accepted to University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and SDSU, but I chose the community college because for me, it felt more comfortable… Never did I think I would come full circle and become the president of the college so many years later.
“What I wanted to do is get at the psychology that the community college is not a bad option,” he continued. “It’s not the 13th grade like high school students talk about.”
Southwestern College
FOUNDED: 1961
PRESIDENT: Mark Sanchez
HEADQUARTERS: Chula Vista
BUSINESS: Education
EMPLOYEES: 2024 to 2025- 1,544
BUDGET: 2024 to 25- $221,601,471
WEBSITE: www.swccd.edu
CONTACT: 619.421.6700
SOCIAL IMPACT: From 2024 to 2025, SWC’s student headcount was 32,420, up 13% from the previous year.
NOTABLE: SWC has a University Center where its partners — including CSUSM, UCSD, ASU, SDSU, PLNU, National U and CETYS — offer bachelor’s degrees.
Born and raised in San Diego, Madison takes great pride in local storytelling. Her coverage at the San Diego Business Journal includes tourism, hospitality, nonprofits, education and retail. An alumna of San Diego State University’s journalism program, she has written for publications including The San Diego Union-Tribune and The San Diego Sun. At the 2024 San Diego Press Club awards, Madison was recognized for her exemplary profile writing. She was also a speaker for the 2023 TEDx Conference at Bonita Vista High School. When she’s not working on her next story, Madison can be found performing music at a local restaurant or on one of San Diego’s many hiking trails.
