Learning Curve: Search where Houston high school grads go to college by district, campus

For Houston-area high school graduates, the options for higher education are plentiful.  Texas is home to more than 400 colleges and universities, plus countless technical and trade schools.

But for most Houston seniors, the path toward a college degree begins at home in community college.

A Landing analysis of Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board data shows nearly 60 percent of Greater Houston high school graduates enrolling at a Texas higher education institution from 2018 to 2022 went to a local community college. In fact, community and junior colleges make up half of the 10 most-popular landing spots for graduates. A mix of local universities and flagship state institutions compose the other half.

To help students, families and educators better understand the college landscape, the Landing has compiled a searchable database with post-graduation enrollment data for large high schools and public school districts in the eight-county Houston area. The databases show the top colleges and districts in Texas that students from each school and district attend after graduation.

A few of notes about the data:

• Colleges and universities are only shown if at least five students from a school or district enrolled at the institution each year between 2018 and 2022. That’s because the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board doesn’t report data if fewer than five graduates enrolled.
  
• The number of graduates enrolled at Lone Star College and San Jacinto College is a slight undercount, largely because the state separated the community colleges into multiple campuses in its data. As a result, campuses with fewer than five students from a district or school in a given year are not included in the college’s total tally of graduates enrolled.
  
• Charter school networks that have campuses in the Houston area and in other parts of the state were excluded due to data issues. This includes KIPP and IDEA Public Schools campuses.

Data by district: Lone Star College, San Jacinto College, the University of Houston, Houston Community College and Texas A&M University were the most popular destinations, in order, for high school graduates in the Greater Houston area.

About 6,000 Houston-area students each year enrolled at Lone Star College on the region’s north side, with Cy-Fair and Conroe ISDs sending the most graduates. Another 4,000 or so graduates joined San Jacinto College, with Pasadena ISD graduates accounting for one-third of them.

The University of Houston drew about 3,000 graduates per year, with Fort Bend and Houston ISDs feeding the most seniors into the downtown campus.

Data by campus: Most Greater Houston campuses saw the largest number of graduates attend their nearest community college: Lone Star College attracted students from the north. Houston Community College drew mostly from the city limits. San Jacinto College relied on students from the east side. And several smaller colleges filled with seniors from the south.

Campuses in more affluent parts of Houston saw a higher percentage of students spread out across the state to four-year colleges and universities.

Looking forward: Texas legislators put a sizable chunk of money toward higher education during the last legislative session in 2023, helping to keep tuition largely flat across the state.

Public universities received an extra $700 million in state funding, while community college saw $650 million more. Each funding increase came with a significant change to operations, however. Universities can no longer pursue certain diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, while state funding for community colleges is now tied to student performance. (Houston-area community colleges still receive most of their revenue from local property taxes and student tuition and fees.)

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by Miranda Dunlap / Staff Writer

Recent graduates from lower-income families also can expect increased state support, with the creation of state grants totaling about $1.5 billion, the Texas Tribune reported.

Other resources: For more tools to help with your college decisions that are outside of the usual college ranking websites, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board offers an accountability grading system.

Their website lets you examine the quality of colleges and universities, using factors such as completion rate, marketable skills and student debt after graduating. You can find their searchable tool here .