SAN MARCOS — Getting a bachelor’s degree at most schools usually comes at an exorbitant cost, though getting one may become easier, according to Palomar College.
While still pending final approval, Palomar may soon offer a Bachelor of Science in Building Performance and Environmental Design. Once fully approved, this new area of study at Palomar will empower students to earn a baccalaureate degree in the local community, according to Vice President of Instruction Tina Recalde. She said students can transition to employment at a much lower cost than attending a traditional four-year institution.

“We successfully made it through the first few stages of the application process and are awaiting the results of the remaining stages,” Recalde said. “We anticipate final approval within the next few months.”
The advantage of this degree lies in its reduced expense and uncommon prospects.
“A key advantage is that students can earn this bachelor’s degree at a much lower cost than attending a traditional four-year university,” said Nichol Roe, Dean of Career, Technical and Extended Education Division at Palomar College. “This makes the program more accessible and allows students to enter the workforce with less debt and more opportunity.”
Architectural programs at the bachelor’s degree level consist mainly of theoretical instruction, according to Jessica Newman, the Lead Faculty of Interior Design at Palomar. However, a bachelor’s degree would offer opportunities in the application of theory.
“Degrees are typically taught very design-based, very artistic, very theoretical, and people do beautiful work. But it isn’t necessarily based in reality. It isn’t necessarily something that could really be built,” Newman said.
Students need to find a way to apply theory, Newman said.
”So we are taking a less theoretical approach and more of a practical approach, where we are really teaching, you know, this is how you build something,” Newman said.
The applied degree will combine lecture and studio courses, where students will be doing hands-on work, according to Jenny Fererro, Palomar’s Dean of Instruction.
Joseph Lucido, the department lead for architecture at Palomar, said San Diego is uniquely positioned to provide opportunities for applied architectural design due to its broad geographical range.
“If you think about San Diego, we have a very diverse regions,” Lucido said. “We have everything from the desert climates to cold climates to coastal climates to border regions. So there’s a lot of uniqueness to our environmental impact and how we can design buildings to respond to those environmental impacts.”
California’s environment was a key factor in designing the degree’s curriculum. Students can learn how to apply their knowledge from regionally sourced materials. And courses will specify which materials have a lower carbon footprint, along with providing instruction in water-wise technology, Lucido said.
Even as environmental impacts may be one aspect of the degree’s curriculum, affordability is also a concern for the clients of architects and interior designers, according to Newman.
“Sometimes the clients don’t want to go for it because they’re already spending a lot of money to build this building. And so we want to give students the tools so that they can explain to clients why they should choose the environmental choice, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s actually going to be saving the money and in, you know, the long term,” Newman said.
Students will learn how to minimize impacts on the environment while still focusing on affordability, which can be done through innovation, according to Newman.
“We feel that there are a lot of new innovative techniques and new innovative materials that are coming out, and people just need to be made aware of them,” Newman said. “New innovations aren’t really being taught in school, and so that’s where we’re coming in and trying to teach these new methodologies, these new materials, so that our students can really be leaders in that space.”
The innovations learned while studying for this degree are themselves new in the education scene, said Fererro.
“One of the things that makes this degree unique is that it is a bachelor’s degree in building performance and Environmental Design, which is not a super-common degree at this point,” Fererro said.
However, it is a burgeoning field, and Palomar’s bachelor’s program aims at providing a means to a graduate degree, Fererro said.
“A lot of the students who are going to potentially be in this program are students who are interested in becoming architects, or are interested in architecture or interior design. And a lot of architects do require a master’s degree,” Fererro said.