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 ''Öffentlichk ...

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 se ...

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 i ...

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, Texas, Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County, Texas, Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the c ...

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 in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. 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 ar ...

, 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, *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 Hous ...

, *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, 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 histo ...

(now consolidated into Houston ISD), *the portions of the Fort Bend Independent School District located within the cities of Houston,

, 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, t ...

History

In 1927, the

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 research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

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 10,00 ...

). 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 a ...

''. 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 ...

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 b ...

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. 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 c ...

Channel 19, TV Max Channel 97, Phonoscope Channel 77 and Cebridge 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 (Men & Women) *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

(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 Sum ...

(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. The sport has a strong amateur following ...

(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 ...

(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, 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, Midtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is located on the Houston Community College System's Central College campus. ...

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 concentrat ...

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.

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, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The ...

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, U.S. She was the winner of the second season of the reality show ''Project Runway'' with a ...

, fashion designer and television personality * Scott Duncan, multi-billionaire *Marcus Orelias, entertainer and entrepreneur.

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