The school, which has 11 campuses around the state, said Wednesday it's working to build at a site on Texas 46, which runs from Seguin to New Braunfels.
The campus could eventually have several thousand students, and the college plans to continue using its current New Braunfels location as well, Provost Mike Anderson said.
"It's just a perfect spot," he said of Seguin, which is about 15 miles south of Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Austin. It's a good fit because growth in Central Texas is creating demand for skilled employees, Anderson said.
Seguin Economic Development Corp. plans to purchase the land then donate it to TSTC, said corporation Executive Director Joshua Schneuker. That proposal will go before the corporation's board and the Seguin City Council for approval.
The site decision comes after months of negotiations between the public college system and the two cities, both of which were searching for locations to host the new campus.
RAPID EXPANSION
Nearly 100 students are enrolled in three programs at TSTC's New Braunfels campus, which is operating in leased space at the Central Texas Technology Center, which is near the New Braunfels National Airport on the city's east side.
The campus enrolled its first students in 2023 after the state Legislature authorized the technical to operate in Comal and Guadalupe counties. Under state law, TSTC can only operate in certain locations allowed by state statute or in situations where the existing community college district has declined to run a program.
Local leaders in the two counties lobbied legislators to add Comal and Guadalupe to the approved locations, saying employers in the area needed technical training for their workforces. Lawmakers passed the bill making that change in May 2023 and Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law that June, clearing the way for the school to begin operating in the region.
The school began with a two-year advanced manufacturing technology program with the Texas Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education's Lone Star chapter, which operates in an eight-county region in Central Texas. Through the program, students receive an associate's degree and work at a participating business while taking classes.
The first cohort of those students will graduate in May and a second cohort started this fall.
TSTC this year also began offering certifications in welding technology and industrial systems. Demand for those classes far outpaced space; 45 students were accepted to the welding program while 49 were put on a wait list, according to program team leader William Beck.
Students in that program will be prepared for entry-level welding jobs. John McGee, the college's director of alignment, said he expects many of them will ultimately go into structural welding jobs, building bridges and other infrastructure in the fast-growing region.
The college's finances rely on its students finding jobs. TSTC's state funding is allocated using a "returned-value formula," with the amount of money the school receives tied to graduates' employment. In certain programs including welding and industrial systems, the college also offers a money-back guarantee, refunding tuition to qualifying students who don't find a job within six months of graduation.
"We've been ecstatic with not just the programs they've added, but the speed they've added them," said Jonathan Packer, president and CEO of the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce. The only problem, he said, has been that they need space to add more.
FINDING A CAMPUS
Since receiving legislative approval last year, the college has been working with economic development corporations in New Braunfels and Seguin on the search for a permanent campus.
Officials knew the technology center facility "couldn't support the long-term needs that our region has when it comes to workforce development and technical training," Schneuker said, and both cities worked to find potential campus locations.
"We needed at least 100 buildable acres," Anderson said, and location was key because of the nature of the classes, which require hands-on training on industrial equipment. "When we put a campus down, it looks like industry," he said, so the area needed to be suitable for industrial development.
He praised both cities "for coming to the table and working together," he said.
The college ultimately selected a location on the west side of Seguin, about nine miles east of downtown New Braunfels. The property is at Texas 46 and Cordova Road, Schneuker said.
He said the EDC intends to buy the land, then donate it to TSTC, but declined to discuss the cost or structure of the deal while the purchase is still being finalized.
According to Guadalupe Appraisal District records, a 138-acre parcel at that intersection has a market value of about $5.3 million.
New Braunfels had taken steps to secure a 100-acre parcel near Interstate 35 and FM 1101, voting in June to authorize its economic development corporation to spend $20 million to buy the property. Packer said at the time that the land could be used for TSTC's campus or for a business park.
The City Council was scheduled to discuss "TSTC campus" during four executive sessions since September, according to their agendas, while the same item was listed on the executive sessions for three EDC board meetings. But the land, which is part of a 240-acre tract, has not yet changed hands, according to appraisal district records, and Packer said the city didn't close on the purchase.
"I look forward to seeing what it will be," he said of the property.
In response to a request for comment on the expansion, the city referred to a written statement from Mayor Neal Linnartz in the school's news release.
"TSTC has rapidly expanded its offerings, and their plans to grow further are exciting," Linnartz said in the statement. "This expansion highlights the need for regional advocacy. The city and business community are committed to advocating for the region at next year's state legislative session."
Packer said the push for a new campus was a collaboration between the two cities and counties from the start, including the discussions about real estate.
"We certainly had to work independently to get all options on the table and refine the options, but it was always a group effort," he said. "At the end of the day, TSTC had to make the decision that they felt was best for the future in our communities."
The college will continue operating in New Braunfels, as construction of a new campus is still several years away, Anderson said. And TSTC expects to still offer some programs in that location once the Seguin campus opens, he said. That could include "upskilling" courses, dual-credit classes or housing certain programs in New Braunfels.
The school's next step is to seek funding for construction in the upcoming legislative session, Anderson said. In its appropriations request, the college is asking for $19.4 million for "start-up funding for the recently opened campus in Comal/Guadalupe counties," as well as $450 million in capital funding for construction at three different campuses.
That money would build a total of 900,000 square feet of training space in Denton County, Ellis County and Comal and Guadalupe counties, according to the school's administrative statement to the legislature.
The startup funding is "to bring programs to the market as quickly as possible," Packer said, and officials from both counties are prepared to lobby the legislature to make that happen.
"Once we're able to get through the legislative session, then the next steps will be to plan out what it's going to look like, the mix of programs," Anderson said. The Seguin location could ultimately have several thousand students, he said.
"We're not going to be small," he said. "I definitely see a space where one day, we are a pretty massive player in this region when it comes to workforce education."
'A HEAD START'
At the New Braunfels campus last week, students in all three programs were finishing up preparations for their upcoming exams.
Orion Pagiotas, 23, was working in the welding technology lab, practicing a process called Tungsten Inert Gas welding, or "TIG."
Before enrolling at TSTC, he was "kind of aimless," he said, working for food delivery services after dropping out of college. "I was looking for something to really just get my life going," he said. At TSTC, he sees placards on the walls from companies that want to work with the college, and sees plenty of paths to get into the industry after graduation.
In the industrial systems classroom, student Denise Fagan, 44, was working through practice questions under the watchful eye of instructor Jeremy Fannin.
"This is where math gets fun, right?" he asked her, before tasking her with calculating wattages for different appliances.
Fagan is part of a maintenance apprenticeship at Continental, where she previously worked in the company's warehouse. Continental manufactures Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, for assisted and automated driving, at a plant in New Braunfels, and created an apprenticeship program that includes participation in TSTC's FAME program.
"I wanted to try something different, something more challenging, something completely out of the ordinary for me," Fagan said. In the warehouse, she was working as an operator on the assembly line, she said; after finishing the program, she'll become a maintenance technician.
She's currently working about 32 hours a week while taking classes at the college, where she likes the hands-on aspects of the training and the industry experience of her teachers.
Fannin started teaching at TSTC after working for 30 years as an electrician. When he was starting out, he said, he wasn't given any formal training. "My first journeyman handed me his books and said, 'go read,'" he recalled.
"I can give them what I didn't get coming into the trade," he said. "It gives them a head start. How much further can they go with the background that I didn't get, with the background that I'm giving them?"
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