Higher education in SA strengthening

[tgannaway89]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/guide_to_sa/54152312.html

A&M will draw $40 million in bonds for a new university on the South Side. A new bill will allow UTSA to compete for more funding in order to reach tier 1 status. Even in hard economic times our local higher education schools can't be stopped.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/guide_to_sa/54152312.html

[DruidCity]

That is great. One of the things I've been most impressed with since my brother took a job at Texas State is what a cooperative spirit there is among the different colleges and universities. It seems like there's plenty of growth to go around, without cannibalization of programs.
I can add that Texas State expects their all-time record enrollment this fall.

[kornbread]

Originally Posted by tgannaway89

Even in hard economic times our local higher education schools can't be stopped.

It's great to hear that the local colleges are doing well; becoming more of an option for Texans seeking a college degree.

However, what San Anonio really needs to be working on is getting graduation rates up in the local high schools. That is the major problem that needs to be addressed. It would be nice to see a leader in the community carry the torch and try to turn things around in the next 5 to 10 years.

Unfortunately, you have someone like USAA asking for tax breaks from the school districts anytime they develop locally. Geeez, invest in your own community for crying out loud

[jaga185]

I agree, it's high schools and middle schools where it matters most. These kids are most impressionable.

[TXlifeguard]

Originally Posted by kornbread

Unfortunately, you have someone like USAA asking for tax breaks from the school districts anytime they develop locally. Geeez, invest in your own community for crying out loud

Can't speak for any of the other school districts in town, but when I worked for Northside a few years back I learned that it was district(board?) policy to no longer grant tax abatements. I believe the last one was circa 1990, I think for Fiesta Texas- developed by a USAA partnership (maybe what kornbread was referring to). I don't know if Northside got burned by the last abatement or they don't want the drama new abatements would cause when they ask voters to approve additional bond packages for construction and renovations as they do every few years.

[Panini]

Originally Posted by tgannaway89

http://www.mysanantonio.com/guide_to_sa/54152312.html

A&M will draw $40 million in bonds for a new university on the South Side. A new bill will allow UTSA to compete for more funding in order to reach tier 1 status. Even in hard economic times our local higher education schools can't be stopped.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/guide_to_sa/54152312.html

It is overall a very fine thing that San Antonio is seeing a growth in its public universities. We need it. We have long been seen as a "blue-collar", and not very intellectual, town. But this city serves a substantial part of South Texas. It is time for us to serve the educational needs of its people. We have a fine medical campus (UTHSCSA) but we need to improve our public universities (read UTSA, and proposed TAMU at SA).

Incidentally, San Antonio will be the only city in Texas with a campus from each major component of our public universities. These are: a Health Science Center, a UT campus and a TAMU campus. We should be fully behind our public schools in their attempt to make San Antonio a premier center for education in Texas. One day, in addition to tourism, people should also come here to be educated in our public universities.

I hear mutters from UTSA faculty about the "competition" from the proposed TAMU campus on the South side. Competition that is, for both students and state funds. But as a UTSA faculty member I welcome the new TAMU campus. There is nothing to be afraid of! We will have to work harder and better to serve the people of this region. We will have to demonstrate our competence and our ability to remain competitive in order to seek state funds. This will be good for all of us. UTSA has a head-start over the proposed TAMU campus, but UTSA has to reach further and try harder. It is time for UTSA to focus on excellence in teaching and research. It is time to make San Antonio synonymous with "Education" and not just the Alamo.

[necropolis]

Originally Posted by Panini

It is overall a very fine thing that San Antonio is seeing a growth in its public universities. We need it. We have long been seen as a "blue-collar", and not very intellectual, town. But this city serves a substantial part of South Texas. It is time for us to serve the educational needs of its people. We have a fine medical campus (UTHSCSA) but we need to improve our public universities (read UTSA, and proposed TAMU at SA).

Incidentally, San Antonio will be the only city in Texas with a campus from each major component of our public universities. These are: a Health Science Center, a UT campus and a TAMU campus. We should be fully behind our public schools in their attempt to make San Antonio a premier center for education in Texas. One day, in addition to tourism, people should also come here to be educated in our public universities.

I hear mutters from UTSA faculty about the "competition" from the proposed TAMU campus on the South side. Competition that is, for both students and state funds. But as a UTSA faculty member I welcome the new TAMU campus. There is nothing to be afraid of! We will have to work harder and better to serve the people of this region. We will have to demonstrate our competence and our ability to remain competitive in order to seek state funds. This will be good for all of us. UTSA has a head-start over the proposed TAMU campus, but UTSA has to reach further and try harder. It is time for UTSA to focus on excellence in teaching and research. It is time to make San Antonio synonymous with "Education" and not just the Alamo.

A poignant, well written, and deserved statement

[jaga185]

A very well written statement indeed Panini.

[miaht82]

Record Enrollments at local Schools

School Enrollment Fall 2009
UTSA 29,133 + 2.5%

• Graduate - 3200 + 179 from 2008
• Doctoral - 555 + 85 from 2008

UIW 7,176 + 7% from '08
ACCD 60,366 + 11.9% from '08
The breakdown:

• San Antonio College, 22,028 - up 7.9 percent over the fall 2008
• Northwest Vista College, 14,555 - up 21.7 percent over the fall 2008
• St. Philip’s College, 10,282 - up 6.9 percent over the fall 2008
• Palo Alto College, 8,304 - up 6.1 percent over the fall 2008
• Northeast Lakeview College, 5,197 - up 26.3 percent over the fall 2008

Other Schools:
St. Mary´s Meets Recruitment & Retention Goals for Fall 2009
U.S. News & World Report raises OLLU’s academic standing

[DruidCity]

Record Enrollments at local Schools...

Thanks for posting. My brother's next-door neighbor is a department head at St. Philip's College, and I didn't know anything about the size of the school.

Although not an exact fit for this thread, here are the numbers for my brother's employer, Texas State-San Marcos:
Fall 2009 total enrollment : 30,816, which is up from 29,105 in fall 2008.
Included in that are 4,198 graduate students, an increase of 12.1 percent over 2008.

My brother's department fully doubled in size over the last year.