Touro University To Offer Better Housing Assistance

Touro University To Offer Better Housing Assistance
By Tony Burchyns/Times-Herald, Vallejo

Touro University is trying to make it easier to hire professors and lure students to its Vallejo campus by offering better housing assistance, a campus spokesman said.

The university, located on Mare Island, has announced a contract with Vallejo-based Mustico Realty to provide a full slate of relocation tools. These include local business guides, moving services available, local school information and other community materials.

The company also plans to help professors and students who choose to use the service to find housing through a network of local real estate professionals.

"It's a recruiting tool," said Jim Mitchell, spokesman for the campus, which has about 1,000 students in various medical fields. "When we are asking someone to move to California, which is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country, we are also providing them with someone with years of experience to help them out."

Mustico Realty has been in business for nearly 30 years, according to owner Verna Mustico.

Mitchell said Touro's Vallejo campus, which opened in 1999, has never before facilitated comprehensive relocation services for new teachers and students. However, like many colleges, the school provides a housing office to help students find apartments.

Mustico's services will be aimed mostly at the school's new employees as the campus grows, Mustico said.

Campus officials are planning an expansion in a few years, when a 191-acre section of Mare Island is developed for a new cancer center.

For now, the campus expects 200 to 300 new students to arrive by June 2008, Mitchell said. The influx will not change the school's enrollment figures much, he added, because a number of students are also expected to leave for internships and residencies.