By Thomas J. Sheeran
The Associated Press

WESTLAKE, Ohio - Cleveland State University, an urban school that boasts that it's "the heart of Cleveland," is taking its first step into the swanky suburbs.

It's part of a trend, as universities compete more aggressively for what amounts to little or no growth in the college-age population in Ohio.

Cleveland State is a latecomer to satellite campuses among state schools: Bowling Green, Kent State, Miami, Ohio State, Ohio, Akron, Cincinnati and Wright State all have additional locations, some more than 75 miles away from their main campuses.

Classes begin Aug. 23 at Cleveland State's first satellite campus, rented space in a new glass and masonry three-story building in Westlake, 15 miles from its sidewalk campus in Cleveland. It will accommodate several hundred students.

The West Center, as Cleveland State prefers to call it, is lined with trees and free parking in a suburb often ranked among Cleveland's best. Homes selling for up to $1 million are getting more common in the community of 31,719.

By contrast, the Cleveland State campus sits amid taverns, offices and gritty factories lined with parking meters. Even the university president has referred to the poured concrete campus architecture as "Soviet" in style.

"The university has seen itself as largely serving the urban region from a single campus," said Cleveland State President Michael Schwartz.

"What we're saying now is the university has a much more metropolitan focus, so it's moving out of the city - not out of the city, but moving beyond it, with new sites for delivery of educational services," said Schwartz, who presided over eight campuses in his prior job as president of Kent State University.

Cleveland State must look to the suburbs if it wants to tap into a growing population. Cleveland's population dropped 5.4 percent from 1990 to 2000, while Westlake and adjacent Avon had a combined growth of 26 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Schwartz doubts the move will mean a reduction in suburbanites heading to the downtown campus. Those enrolled at the West Center "are probably people who wouldn't come downtown on their own anyway," he said.

Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said branch campuses are a way for a university to provide added convenience and respond to market demands.

In that regard, universities can flex out from a city or reach from a rural campus to open an urban or suburban branch, he said.

Westlake Mayor Dennis M. Clough said the West Center would be attractive to suburbanites taking weekend or evening classes and trying to avoid traveling downtown to work, home for dinner and back downtown for class.

Kevin Klapcic, 25, a senior who drives 40 miles from his Lorain County home in Carlisle Township to Cleveland State, would have his commute cut in half by attending class in Westlake. He sees benefits in both locations.

In Westlake, "I'd have more free time instead of coming downtown. But I'd still come downtown," he said. "I come down here in the summertime. You really can't beat it."

By Cleveland State's count, the university is facing competition from more than 40 colleges and universities offering classes in the Cleveland area.

Akron and Kent State have historically recruited in the Cleveland area, and last fall Youngstown State began an advertising campaign locally.

Last year Youngstown State, with an enrollment of 12,700 and located 70 miles from Cleveland, had 150 students from Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, and this year it rose to 210.

William Nunn, associate vice president for enrollment at Akron, said Ohio will see little or no growth in the college-age population, so aggressive recruiting and satellite locations make sense.

Ohio's traditional college-age population is expected to grow only about 1 percent a year over the next few years, according to the Ohio Board of Regents.

The recruiting competition "is unbelievable pressure," Nunn said.

Indiana Wesleyan University entered the Cleveland market in February, attracting 116 full-time students to its new building in suburban Independence. The Marion, Ind., school has campuses in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Kokomo, Columbus and Shelbyville, Ind., and in Louisville, Ky.

"Indiana Wesleyan made everyone sit up," said Cleveland State vice provost Jerry W. Kiel, describing the competitive pressures that helped spur the West Center.