UTSA Growth (Houston, San Antonio, Austin: 2014, house, construction)

[tgannaway89]

LOTS of growth going on at UTSA right now (over 1/4 of a billion dollars):

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

- Laurel Village (housing) $39 million
- Rec. Center Expansion $45.7 million
- Parking Garage/Energy $30 million
- Student Cafe Expansion $5 million
- Engineering building $82.5 million
- University Center Expansion $33.3 million
- 125 acre Expansion $25 million
- UTSA Athletics Park $60 million

Also tons of projects have been completed in recent years. A new "East Campus" is also in the planning stages. The school is also raising its admission standards (those not meeting standards will be deferred to community colleges for 2 years). All of this is of course due in part to the schools effort to reach tier 1 status. What else do you think the school should look at adding? I'd like to see a planetarium, performing arts center, and events center added. Oh and a few more parking structures!

Students will also vote in October whether to add football or not. Should it pass, UTSA plans to become a member of Conference USA in 2014. Do you think this will affect San Antonio's bid to get an NFL team, or do you think landing an NFL team will affect the school's?

[bresilhac]

Originally Posted by tgannaway89

LOTS of growth going on at UTSA right now (over 1/4 of a billion dollars):

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

- Laurel Village (housing) $39 million
- Rec. Center Expansion $45.7 million
- Parking Garage/Energy $30 million
- Student Cafe Expansion $5 million
- Engineering building $82.5 million
- University Center Expansion $33.3 million
- 125 acre Expansion $25 million
- UTSA Athletics Park $60 million

Also tons of projects have been completed in recent years. A new "East Campus" is also in the planning stages. The school is also raising its admission standards (those not meeting standards will be deferred to community colleges for 2 years). All of this is of course due in part to the schools effort to reach tier 1 status. What else do you think the school should look at adding? I'd like to see a planetarium, performing arts center, and events center added. Oh and a few more parking structures!

Students will also vote in October whether to add football or not. Should it pass, UTSA plans to become a member of Conference USA in 2014. Do you think this will affect San Antonio's bid to get an NFL team, or do you think landing an NFL team will affect the school's?

It's good to know of all the growth out at UTSA these days. It seems the campus is growing right along with the rest of the city. And I sincerely hope that students pass the referendum in October to fund football for the school. A D-1AA and eventually a D-1A football program is exactly what this area needs. It would give people around here something to cheer for on Saturday's in the Fall. Additionally major, successful college football programs are tremendous cash generators for the schools that have them. Which is great for the rest of the programs at the various universities that need funding. UTSA of course would also benefit from this cash inflow.

[BucFan]

I guess I'll change my plans to retire near the UTSA campus - while going to UTHSCA grad school a few years ago, I used to hang out at the UTSA campus - good running areas, good library, and nice campus. I liked the community college feel to it. Thought having a house in the communitys adjacent to the campus would be nice - but with that amount of growth, I'll have to reconsider.

[Txstar]

I would like to see more Phd. programs added as well. I really hope UTSA can reach teir 1 status and become the 3rd school in Texas to do so. I think California has something like six universities that are tier 1, so we need to catch up.

[tgannaway89]

Originally Posted by BucFan

I guess I'll change my plans to retire near the UTSA campus - while going to UTHSCA grad school a few years ago, I used to hang out at the UTSA campus - good running areas, good library, and nice campus. I liked the community college feel to it. Thought having a house in the communitys adjacent to the campus would be nice - but with that amount of growth, I'll have to reconsider.

UTSA is fast leaving that legacy behind. Quickly changing from a commuter school. It is also one of the fastest growing colleges in the US. According to Wikipedia enrollment is at 28,520 with over 3,500 being graduate students. I think the campus still lacks badly in terms of endowment. The school could really use some major donations.

[adtobias]

what are the tiers for schools...how are they measured

[futureRCP]

Originally Posted by adtobias

what are the tiers for schools...how are they measured

USNEWS.....

[chipsndip]

Originally Posted by futureRCP

USNEWS.....

So from what I've read tier 1 schools are the top 50 in the US News list of Best Colleges. Tier 2 includes schools from 51nd to 115th place; tier 3 includes those down to 171st place; and tier 4 to 228th place. The top two Texas schools referenced seem to be Rice University at 17, and UT Austin at 47. Next comes the "tier 2" schools with Texas A&M at 60, SMU at 70, Baylor at 81, and TCU at 105.

Tier 1 is a very ambitious goal... it will be great to see the University improve over the next few years.

[tgannaway89]

While USNews rankings are great, that isn't how tier status is measured. Tier status is based on several factors including amount of money used for research and number of doctoral students as well as number of degrees offered. Right now there are only 2 public non-medical schools that have reached this status: UT - Austin and Texas A&M - College Station. I will try and find some better information for you, in the meantime you may be interested in this story from UTSA Today - UTSA unveils vision to move into premier ranks > UTSA Today > University of Texas at San Antonio

UTSA isn't the only Texas school currently looking to achieve this status. Texas Tech, University of Houston, and UT - Arlington are also working towards becoming tier 1 research institutions.

[txmusicgal]

I don't think UTSA should add a football team. I think it is cool that the school doesn't have a football team. Adding a team would only make tuition even higher than it already is. Plus it seems UTSA doesn't really have a lot of school spirit.

I'm glad they are adding a new parking garage that is not 2 levels. Parking is crazy and I hate driving around forever just to find a space. It stinks you have to take morning classes to be able to find parking spots easily.