At one time, pursuing a college education without leaving the Texas Hill Country seemed impossible. While education served as an important cornerstone since the founding of the local communities, the region’s homegrown students were forced to leave Fredericksburg to gain any type of post-secondary learning. To address that need, the Hill Country University Center (HCUC) was built in 2010 by the Hill Country University Center Foundation, which owns and operates the facility. The Hill Country University Center is a 26,000 square-foot facility that includes seven classrooms, ten offices, a science laboratory, student lounge, computer lab, and the HEB Community Events Center.

The HCUC provides an opportunity for our Texas Hill Country residents to overcome the three biggest barriers to the pursuit of higher education – availability, proximity to home, and cost. The HCUC serves as a teaching site for our academic partners, Central Texas College and the Texas Tech University Teaching Site at Fredericksburg, where students can pursue an associate or bachelor’s degrees while realizing considerable savings without leaving the communities in which they live. Our academic partners provide higher education opportunities and the HCUC provides the academic facility.

The majority of students attending classes at the HCUC participate in a 2+2 program in which they complete their lower-level freshman and sophomore courses offered by Central Texas College, earning an associate degree, then transfer to Texas Tech University to complete upper division junior and senior-level courses, earning a bachelor degree. Degrees at the HCUC are designed to align with local workforce needs and employment opportunities such as teaching, business, the wine industry, and hospitality.