Samuel Merritt University's $240M campus will bring 2,000 students to downtown OaklandOAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- For the past 117 years, Samuel Merritt University has been one of California's largest educators of registered nurses. The 10-story, 260,000-square-foot facility is expected to bring approximately 2,000 students and 500 faculty and staff to the city's urban core daily. RELATED: Public safety key to reviving Oakland's economy, chamber of commerce report says"It's using Oakland's public assets to catalyze public and private investment and to deliver public health. Public health, public benefits for our city," says Mayor Lee. "If you are from the Bay Area, you know Samuel Merritt breeds healers -- that healers are being taught in this building.