[I]n Arizona, "we have this interesting university system where we have created these behemoths." There are Arizona State and Northern Arizona Universities, and the University of Arizona, along with the Maricopa Community College system—and little else.

Benedictine University, a Roman Catholic college in the Chicago area, recently announced that it would set up a branch campus in Mesa, starting in the fall of 2013, with bachelor's-degree programs in fine arts, criminal justice, communications, theology, nutrition, and other disciplines. Administrators expect the program to have 1,500 students within five years, and that the university will eventually build a full-fledged residential campus near the downtown district. Within the next several months, city officials hope to announce that a handful of other colleges will join Benedictine.

Mesa has made no promises that colleges will have exclusive rights to offer various programs, but city officials say bringing in duplicate programs, in which one college might outcompete another, is not in their best interest. On the other hand, colleges that already operate in the region do not seem to feel threatened by the city's plan. In fact, administrators at Mesa Community College have helped recruit prospective colleges to the area. The administrators plan to hammer out articulation agreements that would ease the transfer of credits from their college to the various institutions.