Officials in Goodyear, Ariz., a rapidly growing community near Phoenix, were hoping to reel in a four-year college when they sent out a request for information to hundreds of private colleges this year, pitching the city as an ideal spot to establish a campus. Now, it seems, they’ve got three nibbles.

The Arizona Republic reports that three private institutions — Franklin Pierce College, in New Hampshire; Notre Dame College, in Ohio; and the University of the Incarnate Word, in Texas — have firmed up commitments to expand in Goodyear after participating in a three-day conference sponsored by the city.

The colleges plan to secure office space and set up small campuses for nontraditional students, such as working adults who take evening or online classes. If those initial steps, which first face votes by the colleges’ governing boards, are successful, each college could develop a larger, more traditional campus in the future.