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August 21, 2008 ·It used to be if you wanted a college education in Texas you had few choices.
If you didn’t already live in one of the larger cities in the state, you’d have to pack-up your books, say goodbye to the high school sweetheart and move.
But in Fredericksburg community leaders are bringing the university setting to their quiet corner of Texas.
Jimmy Sparks is the director of the Hill Country University Center. He says it all began in the early 1990’s with an idea.
“This was basically a group of people sitting around a room that identified higher education as a need. And the hill country higher education steering committee and they did all the leg work to get this off the ground,” said Sparks.
The group realized that the lack of higher education opportunities in Fredericksburg was hurting the community.
But what if the university degrees were available closer to home? That would make getting a college education convenient and more affordable for Hill Country students.
“A lot of students here are geographically restricted or financially restricted. Maybe they have kids. They kind of have to stay in the area, but they can drive to Fredericksburg from Llano, or Mason or Ingram or Comfort and receive their education here locally,” Sparks said.
According to Sparks there was no way that the state would fund a college campus in Fredericksburg. Their community didn’t have the required population density.
“You have to reach 3,500 students before they’ll fund the building. So, as a result, it put it on the local community to raise the funds and own this building,” Sparks said adding, “We’ll probably never get to 3500 hundred students that’s a lot for this small geographic area.”
From private donations, area businesses and foundations the group raised the $5.5 million needed for the planned 24-thousand square-foot classroom facility.
It will be built on a 68-acre tract leased to them by the City of Fredericksburg.
The partnering schools, Texas Tech, Austin Community College, Angelo State University and Concordia University are already teaching courses in Fredericksburg and providing degree programs.
But they are in portable classrooms borrowed from Fredericksburg Independent School District.
While this is a good arrangement, James Morris of Texas Tech University in Fredericksburg says the education opportunities will improve with a dedicated permanent campus.
“It will be such a remarkable advance compared to a portable classroom. For not only the technology but for student services, grounds, parking facilities, book store, a library — other sorts of amenities that we currently have in limited or very little supply,” said Morris.
The new classrooms are called "smart rooms" because are infused with the latest in digital technology, interactive video conferencing and web based learning.
Susan Nichols of Austin Community College says they are looking forward to the new science labs which are needed for their nursing programs.
“We offer now the science classes in the high school labs which are very good but this will be much larger and allow us to offer a wider range of science classes. Mainly chemistry is one of the subjects we’ve been waiting to offer,” Nichols said.
“Plus we’ll have more technology available for our students. And it will also give the students the feeling of being in a true college surrounding,” she added.
The new building is expected to be complete in 2010 and when open local college enrollment is expected to jump by almost 40 percent.
This is also only phase one for the Hill Country University Center – a feasibility study is now underway exploring the creation of a Fredericksburg Wine and Culinary Center. |
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