Houston may be its home, but leaders of the city’s community college have their sights set on the entire globe.
In the fall 2025 semester, Houston Community College administrators will launch their new “Global Online College,” hoping to entice more international students to take classes virtually from their home countries.
HCC Chancellor Margaret Ford Fisher and other college leaders say they mainly hope it expands HCC’s brand across the globe, attracting more students to their roughly 60 fully online programs. They’ve also touted the move as a way to boost tuition revenue and meet a growing demand for online classes post-pandemic.
“Imagine the value for our students,” Ford Fisher said in front of roughly 900 attendees during her November State of the College speech. “An associate or baccalaureate degree at a community college price. … While we focus on our community, we must think more broadly and expand our reach much further.”
Still, uncertainty surrounds the ambitious plan. In response to questions from the Landing, college leaders did not detail the demand for such programs, how HCC will measure success of the initiative or whether the college will increase staffing ahead of the launch. HCC Online College President Jerome Drain said “there are no goals that I’ve set” for a number of students to enroll.
Online classes have become an increasingly popular choice for students since the pandemic, during which many college students were forced to learn virtually.
In the fall 2023 semester, 47 percent of HCC students solely attended online courses. HCC’s Online College, which houses HCC’s online classes, is also the largest of the institution’s seven colleges enrollment-wise, tallying roughly 32,500 of HCC’s 49,500 students in the fall 2024 semester. Students enrolled in the online college take at least some of their course load in an online format.
“We’ve seen growth since post-pandemic. Students understand and realize the convenience that online offers,” Drain said. “… The most-heard accolades about what we’re able to offer is just the flexibility of our classes. As you may think, students truly like that aspect of online.”
Exploring new markets
HCC drew roughly 3,500 international students in 2023, the most recent year with available data. Students came from roughly 130 countries, with the largest shares from Vietnam, Nigeria, India and China.
But attending Houston’s community colleges virtually from abroad doesn’t seem to be a popular option — at least for now.
Drain didn’t provide an exact percentage of how many students attended HCC virtually while living overseas in the fall 2024 semester. At neighboring Lone Star College, international students comprise just 1 percent of the online college’s enrollment, said Laura Bettencourt, interim president of Lone Star’s online campus. Lone Star College is the largest community college system in Texas.
“There are many restrictions with the online courses like that,” said Quang Nhat Minh Le, an HCC international student from Vietnam. “I could stay at Vietnam and study. But how can you get any connection with your friends? Especially if you want to take a course and then you want to connect with even your professor, they have a different time zone.”
HCC will first focus on recruiting students in countries where most international students already come from, Ford Fisher said. She added that college administrators will promote the initiative by launching a new global college website and advertising on social media.
HCC leaders will also target students in other countries by “using our current students, engaging with them, and hoping that they reach out to friends and family,” Drain said. Additionally, they work with foreign consulars representing different countries in Houston to understand the educational needs in students’ home countries, he said.
“When our online courses are offered, they're offered for our students anywhere to take the course. So it doesn't matter where they are, they're able to enroll,” Drain said. “The efforts of the online college, as we think about expanding the footprint (globally), is really doing more of what we're already doing.”
Valuable degree or ‘red flag’?
Drain said an HCC education is appealing to those living overseas because of its affordability and Houston’s familiar reputation as a destination “for international migration and education.”
HCC administrators did not clarify if they’re more focused on attracting Houston-area residents currently living overseas who plan to return to Texas, or foreigners with no plans to move to Houston, in response to questions from the Landing. Ford Fisher suggested during her November State of the College speech that the global college would be particularly useful to military members and Houston companies that have employees living abroad, such as Chevron.
“As an open access institution, HCC welcomes all students who find value in our educational services, regardless of location,” Drain wrote in a statement.
But Nhat Minh Le, the international business administration student, said HCC’s international students are often drawn to the college for reasons besides obtaining a certificate or degree, such as living in a diverse U.S. city and gaining new experiences. He suggested employers in Vietnam would see a degree obtained virtually from a college in another country as a potential “red flag.”
Pavitra Patil, an HCC computer science student from India, shared that concern.
“People can take advantage of the online classes, because there are lots of people that use AI for cheating,” Patil said. “I would have preferred to move here because you don't know how the system works here, and you get the feel of the classes and how the assignments work.”
Ford Fisher said the added revenue from international students’ tuition could help boost funding to local programs. International students pay HCC’s out-of-state tuition and fees rate of $227 per credit hour, while the in-state total is $84.50 per credit hour.
Miranda covers Houston’s community colleges in partnership with Open Campus. Despite roughly half of Houston’s higher-education students attending community colleges, there hasn’t been much news covering these systems or students — until now. Her reporting holds institutions accountable, highlights barriers faced by students and helps them navigate their opportunities. Reach Miranda at miranda@houstonlanding.org or on Twitter and Instagram.
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