It's official: Cal Poly will absorb Cal Maritime, rescuing academy from brink of bankruptcy

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly will acquire Cal Maritime — the state's beleaguered maritime academy — in hopes of saving it from bankruptcy and dwindling enrollment, California State University trustees decided Thursday.

The administrative merger is slated to be complete by the start of the next academic year and will present around $30 million in cost savings for the CSU system, according to CSU Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Steve Relyea.

The unprecedented decision drops the CSU university count from 23 to 22.

The nearly 100-year-old Cal Maritime, located in Vallejo, is lauded for its vital educational offerings as the only degree-granting maritime academy on the West Coast and one of seven in the nation.

The program trains students — known as cadets — in marine transportation, engineering and technology. Some students can earn credentials from the U.S. Coast Guard, though the academy is not a military institution.

But Cal Maritime has faced drastic enrollment decline over the past seven years, with just 700 students enrolled for the 2023-24 academic year, according to the CSU Chancellor's Office. The decline, along with rising operating costs, contributed to significant financial challenges for the institution.

To save the academy's vital maritime programming, CSU announced in June a plan to fold the downtrodden institution into Cal Poly — a plan that gained unanimous committee approval Wednesday afternoon, sending it to the board at large for another unanimous vote Thursday.

"It's a great day, it's a historic day for the CSU," said Chancellor Mildred Garcia after the committee vote.

By July 2025, Cal Maritime will be known as the Cal Poly Maritime Academy located at the Cal Poly Solano campus, according to Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong. It is intended that Cal Maritime students will be officially enrolled as Cal Poly students by the start of the 2026-27 academic year.

Though the plan was born out of necessity, trustees said Wednesday that the merger will create a "powerhouse educational institution" by combining Cal Poly's "Learn by Doing" ethos with the academy's specialized maritime programming and technology.

The merger will also give Cal Poly access to the 92-acre Solano campus and marine technology. Armstrong said plans to expand majors and programming could emerge.

Armstrong told trustees that the integration of the two universities will "significantly and immediately enhance Cal Poly's academic excellence and impact to an increasingly diverse student body and to the state and nation."

"As integrated, Cal Poly will combine Maritime experience expertise and return on investment within our signature polytechnic innovation and Learn by Doing ethos to create rich and utterly unique educational opportunities."

Administrators from both institutions will spend the next months collaborating with trustees and CSU officials to fully develop a plan to integrate the universities.

"I'm excited about this opportunity for California and also the Pacific-facing states and territories," Armstrong told The Tribune on Thursday morning. "I know as we go forward, as the work really begins, that our faculty and staff will help us make sure that we keep Learn by Doing and these very important license programs that lead to merchant mariners in the forefront."

"The future is very bright," he added. "I'm as excited about Cal Poly as I've been in my 14 years, and I'm excited for both communities, Solano County and San Luis Obispo, city and county."