New Student Center Coming to CSUSB

California Legislature approves $79 million budget request for new student center building at CSUSB Palm Desert Campus

PALM DESERT – The state Legislature has approved $79 million to build Phase I of a new Student Center at the California State University Palm Desert Campus.

When complete, the new 23,700-square-foot Student Center Building will include an advising/tutoring center, career center, expanded campus library, group study space, a cross cultural center, campus bookstore, food services, a student health center and a recreation and wellness center.

This new space will help vacate approximately 10,200 square feet of existing space in the campus’s Mary Stuart Rogers Gateway Building, Indian Wells Center for Educational Excellence and Palm Desert Health Sciences Building to be re-purposed for the expansion of academic programs on the campus, including additional faculty office and classroom space.

The new Student Services Building will be able to accommodate up to 4,000 students and is designed for maximal flexibility as the campus continues to grow.

It will provide enhanced student services and support for students, and better position the campus to continue serving underrepresented and first-generation students of the Coachella Valley.

“This is a big day for the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus and the Coachella Valley community,” Tomás D. Morales, President of CSUSB, said in a prepared statement. “The new Student Center Building will be life changing for students at the campus by providing increased access to critical services our students deserve. It will help expand higher education opportunities in the Coachella Valley and we are grateful to everyone who helped make this dream a reality.”

With the campus seeing a significant increase in student enrollment, this investment of $79 million to fund a student center as part of the efforts to expand the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus is the next step in creating a more commutable and inviting campus for those in the region.

State Assemblymembers Chad Mayes, I-Rancho Mirage, and Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, have worked for years to secure funds for the new building at the Cal State San Bernardino, Palm Desert Campus.

The CSUSB Palm Desert Campus offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees, a doctorate in educational leadership, teaching credentials and certificates. Serving more than 2,300 students, it is the Coachella Valley’s four-year public university and plays a vital role in educating and training the region’s growing population.