Bridgewater State University officials said that if the school establishes a program on Cape Cod, it will co-exist, not compete, with Cape Cod Community College, the Cape Cod Times reported.
The university has met with town officials numerous times over the past year to discuss the possibility of putting a satellite campus into the newly-closed Laurence C. MacArthur School on Route 28.
Officials have set a goal of 2014 for the finish of phase one of construction, with the project's full completion slated for January of 2017, the Times wrote.
University president Frederick Clark Jr. said the claim that the two colleges would overlap "doesn't make sense." He said he understands the importance of having a good relationship with the community college.
Karen Jason, associate vice president for facilities management and planning, told the Times that Bridgewater State envisions a campus of five or six classrooms supporting 20 or 25 students each.
Right now, about 350 Cape Codders commute off-Cape every day to attend college.
Lynn Mason-Small, a Yarmouth resident and member of the Cape Cod Young Professionals, said that a local university campus could help keep young people in the area.
"Education drives that choice," Mason-Small said of young people leaving the Cape.
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