Houston Community College (HCC), also known as Houston Community College System (HCCS) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...
system that operates community colleges in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
Missouri City
Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, up from 67,35 ...
,
Greater Katy
Greater Katy Area is the term often used to refer to a suburban region on the west side of the Greater Houston metropolitan area roughly corresponding to the boundaries of the Katy Independent School District. Many people and businesses in this ar ...
, and
Stafford
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...
in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. It is notable for actively recruiting internationally and for the large number of international students enrolled, over 5,700 in 2015. Its open enrollment policies, which do not require proficiency in English, are backed by a full-time 18-month English proficiency program and remedial courses.
As defined by the
Texas Legislature
The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ...
, the official service area of HCCS includes the following school districts:
*the
Houston Independent School District
The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...
,
*the
Stafford Municipal School District
Stafford Municipal School District (SMSD) is a school district based in Stafford, Texas, United States in Greater Houston. The district covers all of the city of Stafford and is controlled by the city, making it the only school district in Texas ...
,
*the
Spring Branch Independent School District
Spring Branch Independent School District is a school district headquartered in Hedwig Village, Texas, United States in Greater Houston. The district serves portions of western Houston,Morales, Katherine.Residents working to retain superintendent ...
(included in service area by state law, but is not part of the tax base),
*the
Alief Independent School District
Alief Independent School District is a school district that is based in southwest Houston, Texas, United States.
Alief ISD, which covers of land, covers a small portion of southwest Houston and parts of unincorporated Harris County. In Housto ...
,
*the
Katy Independent School District
The Katy Independent School District (KISD) is a public school district based in Katy, Texas, United States with an enrollment of over 85,700 students. As of August 2009, the district was rated as "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.
...
,
*the
North Forest Independent School District
North Forest Independent School District (NFISD) was a school district in northeast Houston, Texas. Established in the early 1920s in a low-income white area, it later became majority-black and black-run. The district had a history of financial ...
(now consolidated into Houston ISD),
*the portions of the
Fort Bend Independent School District
The Fort Bend Independent School District, also known as Fort Bend ISD or FBISD, is a school district system in the U.S. state of Texas based in the city of Sugar Land.
The district spans covering almost all of the city of Sugar Land, the city ...
located within the cities of Houston,
Missouri City
Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, up from 67,35 ...
, and
Pearland
Pearland ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Brazoria County, with portions extending into Fort Bend and Harris counties. The city of Pearland is a principal city within the metropolitan statistical area. At the 2020 U.S. census, th ...
.
History
In 1927, the
Houston Independent School District
The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...
founded its first community colleges, Houston Junior College (for whites), which later evolved into the
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
and the Houston College for African American students (now
Texas Southern University
Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,000 ...
). In 1971, the district founded HCCS after HJC's and HCN's evolutions into the University of Houston and Texas Southern University respectively. In its early days, HCCS once used HISD school campuses for teaching facilities with classes during evenings and weekends like its founders. Around 1997, HCCS began to transfer operations to community college district-operated campuses throughout the HCCS service area.
[TSPR Houston Community College System]
." ''Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. The comptroller is popularly elected every four years, and is primarily tasked with collecting all state tax revenue and estimating the am ...
''. Accessed September 23, 2008.
Former campus in Qatar
The country of
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
operates
Education City
Education City is a development in Al Rayyan, Qatar. Developed by the Qatar Foundation, the property houses various educational facilities, including satellite campuses of eight international universities.
History
Education City was launched by ...
to bring U.S. universities to the Middle East. Houston Community College ran a satellite campus in Education City. However, in early 2016 HCC announced that they were "massively scaling back operations" and closed this campus.
Over a five-year period, Qatar's government paid HCC approximately $30.5 million to subsidize the Education City campus. In a news interview, the HCC Board of Trustees Treasurer said he did not support continuing the campus. “We’re a community college to educate kids in our district,” he said.
When HCC first sent teachers to its Qatar campus, the Qatari government made some of them return to the United States because they were Jewish.
Police
HCC operates its own
police department
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...
.
As peace officers, state law grants HCC Police the power to arrest without warrant for any felony, breach of the peace, disorderly conduct or intoxication offense that is committed in their presence or view while in Texas. They may make an arrest pursuant to a warrant anywhere in Texas. The HCC Police Department is divided into six divisions: Administrative, Criminal Investigations, Patrol, Bike Patrol, Training, Communications.
HCC Television
HCCTV began in 1994 when the City of Houston chose the Houston Community College System (HCCS) to operate one of its
educational access channels. Already in place since 1980, HCCTV was the college system's video component, producing programs of education, training and college promotion.
HCCS operates Houston Community College Television (HCCTV) on
Xfinity
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...
Channel 19, TV Max Channel 97,
Phonoscope Phonoscope Communications is a broadband and cable television provider with corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's infrastructure spans eight counties and reaches distant locations such as Baytown, Galveston, Freeport, Magnolia, Ri ...
Channel 77 and
Cebridge
Suddenlink was an American telecommunications subsidiary of Altice USA trading in cable television, broadband, IP telephony, home security, and advertising. Prior to its acquisition by Altice, the company was the seventh largest cable operator wi ...
Channel 20 and streamed over the internet. The studio complex, which has one large studio unit, five editing suites, and a digital master control system, is located at the HCC District Campus.
[How to Access HCCTV]
." ''Houston Community College''. Retrieved on May 2, 2009.
Athletics
HCC offers several sports activities to its students throughout its campuses; the sports offered include:
*
Soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
(Men & Women)
*
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
(Men & Women)
*
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
(Women)
*
Flag Football
Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a Down (gridiron football), down. The sport has a ...
(Men)
*
Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
(Men & Women)
*
Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
(Men & Women)
*
Fitness (Men & Women)
List of colleges in HCCS
Central College
*Central Campus (Houston)
**HCC Central Campus, in
Midtown Houston
Midtown is a central neighborhood of Houston, located west-southwest of Downtown. Separated from Downtown by an elevated section of Interstate 45 (the Pierce Elevated), Midtown is characterized by a continuation of Downtown's square grid street ...
, is served by a
METRORail
METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th ...
station,
Ensemble/HCC Station
Ensemble/HCC is an island platformed METRORail light rail station in Houston, Texas, United States. The station was opened on January 1, 2004, and is operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO). Located Midtown ( ...
.
Houston Academy for International Studies
The Houston Academy for International Studies (HAIS) is a Houston Independent School District charter school in Midtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is located on the Houston Community College System's Central College campus. It opened in Aug ...
of Houston ISD opened on HCC's Central Campus in Fall 2006.
*South Campus (Houston)
**HCC South Campus is in the Central Southwest area of Houston, and is served by the HCC South Campus bus station.
Coleman College of Health Sciences
*Coleman College of Health Sciences (Houston) (located in the
Texas Medical Center
The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrate ...
district)
Northeast College
*Codwell Hall Campus (Houston)
*Northline Campus (Houston)
**The HCC Northline Campus is the site of HISD's
North Houston Early College High School
North Houston Early College High School (NHECHS) is a secondary charter school located at 8001 Fulton St. Building C in Northside Houston, Texas, United States.
The school is operated by the Houston Independent School District in association with ...
.
*Pinemont Campus (Houston)
Northwest College
*Alief Campus (Houston)
**The Alief Campus is the site of Alief ISD'
Alief Early College High School
*Alief Continuing Education Center (''unincorporated'' Harris County)
*Katy Campus
*Spring Branch Campus
Southeast College
Southeast College is home to two separate campuses in different parts of the HCC Southeast service area.
Eastside Campus (Houston)
It is in
Pecan Park
Pecan Park is a neighborhood in Houston, Texas.
Pecan Park is located approximately south of downtown Houston inside Interstate 610, known as "The Loop", to the east of Interstate 45 in the East End, Houston area. The name Pecan Park generally ...
.
Felix Fraga Academic Campus (Houston)
The Felix Fraga Academic Campus is located a mile and a quarter east of
Downtown Houston
Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45, ...
a
301 N. Drennan St.
The campus opened in January, 2010 and was named for Felix Fraga by the HCC Board of Trustees in honor of his dedication to the educational, social, and economic success of the young people of Houston’s southeast community and his devotion to improving their neighborhood. Fraga served as an HISD trustee and as a member of the Houston City Council. Today he is the Vice President of External Affairs for the Neighborhood Centers, Inc.
The Felix Fraga Campus hosts classes to over 1,500 students every semester. Its flagship offerings include Maritime Logistics, Pre-Engineering, and other STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) classes. Most core courses are also available.
In partnership with HISD, the Felix Fraga Campus is also the host location of HISD's
East Early College High School.
Southwest College
Notable alumni
* Kim Su Tran La, founder of the restaurant chain
Kim Sơn.
*
Chloe Dao
Chloe Dao ( lo, ໂຄລອີ ດາວ) (born June 15, 1972) is an American fashion designer and television personality who lives and works in Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southe ...
, fashion designer and television personality
*
Scott Duncan, multi-billionaire
*Marcus Orelias, entertainer and entrepreneur.
See also
*
Houston Community College System Foundation
References
External links
Official website
{{authority control
Two-year colleges in Texas
Buildings and structures in Fort Bend County, Texas
Buildings and structures in Harris County, Texas
Community colleges in Texas
Education in Fort Bend County, Texas
Education in Harris County, Texas
Education in Waller County, Texas
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Universities and colleges in Houston
Educational institutions established in 1971
1971 establishments in Texas