The university was founded as
San Jose Bible College in 1939, in
San Jose by William Lee Jessup, the college's first president.
Eugene Claremont Sanderson had originally started Evangel Bible University in San Jose in 1934 but was unable to make it viable. As a result, he recruited Jessup, one of his former students, to take over. By 1951, with the school expanding and the
San José State University across the street encroaching, San Jose Bible College moved to a parcel bordered by
Coyote Creek, 12th Street and nearly 30 years later by I-280. Spanish-style classroom buildings and several dormitory buildings made up the small campus. William Jessup retired in 1960 and was succeeded by Alvan L. Tiffin. Later, Woodrow Phillips, an alumnus, was president from 1968 to 1979 and Chuck Boatman was president from 1979 to 1984. Bryce Leroy Jessup, a
Pepperdine University alumnus and a son of the original president, was president from 1984 to 2010, when he retired. John Jackson, a former pastor at local megachurch
Bayside Church, was selected to be the sixth president in March 2011. In 1989, the school was renamed
San Jose Christian College and regionally accredited by
WASC in 2002. As administration was unable to find a new location in the
Santa Clara Valley, they decided to move the institution to the
Sacramento metropolitan city of
Rocklin in April 2003. The college officially moved from its San Jose campus in June 2004. At this time the college was renamed
William Jessup University. A branch campus has been retained in San Jose that primarily serves non-traditional and graduate students. In January 2023, the university underwent its third name change, rebranding as
Jessup University. The current location was formerly a Herman Miller Furniture Factory and many of the buildings were designed by
Frank Gehry. Since 2017, Jessup University has formally partnered with Placer County to address land conservation issues in the county. In 2022, the university and Placer County announced plans for the university to purchase a 487-acre piece of land known as the Clover Valley, with the goal of managing it as an ecological and recreational preserve. In 2019, the university refinanced roughly $75 million in debt as bonds through the
California Municipal Finance Authority. The origin of the debt is unclear, although the financing is earmarked as for the refinancing of "a portion of one or more loans used to acquire, construct, furnish and/or equip educational facilities of the Borrower’s campus." The school made little mention of the action, noting simply in one of its regular publications that "For the first time in our history, we have fixed rate long-term debt financing." In 2020, the school announced a partnership with
Bethel Church to create
Bethel Music College. The school, which is accredited through Jessup, allows students to study with Bethel Music leaders and other industry experts while gaining credits that can be used toward a bachelor's degree. It is structured similarly to the university's partnership with another Bethel program known as the
Bethel School of Technology, which operates a "nine-month technology bootcamp." Although the impact of the programs is unclear, Jessup, in a press release, noted that, in the fall of 2020, the "partnership program with Bethel brought in 150 students in the first four months of the program." However, as of 2024 it appears that Jessup and Bethel no longer maintain any partnership. Bethel Music has a different accreditation with TRACS and a search on Jessup University's site gives no results for Bethel. The press release further argued for the university's successful navigation of the disruption caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic, stating that enrollment had grown by 6.5%, with the growth powered by an increase in online students, students in graduate programs, and students involved in the Bethel Music College program. On November 7, 2023,
Multnomah University in
Portland, Oregon, announced a merger with Jessup University in the setting of ongoing financial issues. Jessup University acquired about $30 million of Multnomah University's assets in a deal that cost only $7 million, stating an intent to preserve the Portland university as a satellite campus. However, shortly after the deal was accomplished, Jessup University's own ongoing financial difficulties led it to take out a large loan against the Multnomah Campus, and the closure of the Portland location was announced in May 2025. ==Academics==