It's long past time for Phoenix to have its own college

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Higher education options in Phoenix are horribly limited. You can either go to ASU or..... well thats about it unless you want to go to a 'for profit' school. For those who want a smaller, more intimate setting, their only choice is to leave the State of Arizona for college, likely never to return. This is why PHX and AZ suffers from so much "brain drain."

With that in mind, lets "graduate" Phoenix College to a 4 year, liberal arts college, with intimate enrollment (say no more than 15K or so). Many Universities started as Junior Colleges (i.e. Boise St & Utah Valley St), so there is a model that can be followed.

Phoenix College is located in a lovely historic area, has a very nice campus and certainly has that 'collegial' feel to its campus. Its decent proximity to public transportation, the City, etc. would make it very appealing for kids not wanting to attend a 78K student behemoth like ASU.

Of course the Junior College would need to be replaced, but that should be easy enough. PC already has a branch campus Downtown, and the City owns huge empty swaths of land where the Pappas school used to be (5th Ave/Fillmore). Building up that area as the "Downtown Phx Community College" would be ideal. It would fill in vacant lots, put more people and energy into Downtown, and provide a super convenient campus for adult workers taking night classes.

We're the 6th biggest City in America, we need to start acting like it. Education needs to be a top priority, lets 'graduate' Phoenix College.