SAN MARCOS ---- Cal State San Marcos on Monday came within minutes of receiving a $7.6 million grant to build a new child-care center; it did not get it, but expects to within about a month.

Peggy Kelly, interim associate dean of the university's College of Education, said Monday afternoon that the First 5 Commission of San Diego was set to approve the grant when several last-minute protests caused what is expected to be a monthlong delay.

"The board voted to postpone making a decision because there were protests from some organizations that didn't make the list," Kelly said. "It's all part of the public process; so we get to play the waiting game."

First 5 is a local agency that distributes proceeds from a 50-cent-per-pack statewide cigarette tax.

Each year the commission doles out grants to local agencies with proposals to serve children in San Diego County. This year, Kelly said, 41 local organizations requested grants from First 5. However, only eight of those grant requests were put on Monday's agenda for approval by the board, one of them the grant for Cal State.

"We made the final cut. We were the highest value project funded," Kelly said.

The next largest grant included in the funding list was a $5.2 million proposal by the San Ysidro Health Center followed by a $4 million proposal from the San Diego Public Library. Kelly said protestors included Children's Hospital of San Diego, which submitted a $15 million request that did not make the list.

If the First 5 commission ultimately approves the college's grant request, the money will fund a 20,000-square-foot complex called the Center for Children & Families. According to Rick Moore, spokesperson for Cal State, the center would replace the college's performing arts annex on La Moree Road south of Barham Drive on the east end of campus.

The center would be licensed to serve 190 children ranging in age from infancy to pre-kindergarten. The children of students or staff and faculty members could attend and programs would be similar to those offered at an existing preschool program at the university, the Early Learning Center.

A grant proposal written by Kelly states that the center would be used not only to care for young children, but also as a classroom for education majors.

"It would provide learning experiences for students as well as child care," Moore said.

The grant disclosure comes as the college wrestles with funding its Early Learning Center. The center, which provides preschool curriculum for nearly 50 children, is supported with student user fees. In late March, the college's associated student body, Associated Students Inc., decided to have a referendum in the fall on increasing student fees to keep the child center open.

Kelly said the new center would replace the Early Learning Center and take the burden off the student body. She said research has shown that preschool operations with 80 students or more can be self-supporting.

"This is huge for providing continuous service on campus," she said.

If Cal State receives its grant, construction would begin in August 2005, and would continue through early 2007.