A group of businesspeople and retired educators who have identified that Tamworth is falling behind compared to other regional cities because there is no university have ramped up their advocacy efforts.
Mitch Hanlon, a representative of the advocacy group Tamworth University, said they have worked for a few years now to raise awareness of the issues and have managed to attract the University of New England to show sufficient interest for it to fund a $500,000 business case for a university campus.
The study is currently underway with the consultants meeting some business and council people to find out what is required.
Mr Hanlon said he is concerned that UNE may decide against a uni campus due to a few hurdles.
"We are worried that UNE may decide against a university campus and argue that we have sufficient coverage with the existing Fitzroy St learning centre," he said.
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"Another challenge is that university places are funded by the federal government so we need to convince them to allocate places to the new campus.
"A further challenge is funding for construction."
Mr Hanlon said the state government has allocated $26m and council a further $5m in donated land and services at the old velodrome site, but it probably won't be enough money to get a decent campus.
He added that it was "embarrassing" for a regional centre such as Tamworth to not have its own campus.
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