Dr. Zachary Hodges has been president of Houston Community College System's Northwest College for 20 years. In early July he started a new position as the acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the HCC system. That position is the chief academic officer for the system and serves as the director of all instructional programs, both academic and workforce. Hodges is also charged with the task of developing new programs and improving those that exist to best meet the needs of local communities and industry.

Dr. Butch Herod, executive dean of the Northwest College, is serving as interim president in Hodges' absence.

After such a long tenure in Katy, how is the new job?

I'm very excited about it. I get to continue to be a big idea man but now on a bigger stage. I'm kind of a naturally curious individual, and now I'm down here learning new things and seeing where the new opportunities are.

At the Katy Area Economic Development Council's recent higher education forum, many community leaders said they wanted more college programs that are linked with industry and would even consider the possibility of a University of Katy. What do you think of these ideas?

We are really making baby steps toward making that happen. UH is now teaching classes at our campus. We are going to expand that program this year. The long-range goal is to provide a complete four-year degree in Katy—an aligned model. The first two years would be at HCC, the remaining two years would be through UH. That's our goal. We're working with UH to make that happen.

At the forum there was also some discussion about the source of funding for HCC's Katy campus. Can you clarify how this works?

Sure. In the late 1990s, the Texas Legislature put Katy ISD into the service area of HCC. So it is our responsibility to serve Katy ISD. We offer, for example, an extensive dual credit program through the school district. We have over 600–700 students taking dual credit classes across all the Katy ISD high school campuses.

While Katy ISD is in the service area of HCC, it is not in the taxing district. Katy does not pay taxes to HCC. So we've had to work hard to serve Katy without a tax base. It is considered an out-of-district area even though it is in our service area.

What does "work hard to serve Katy" mean practically?

Practically, that translates to fewer facilities. People say that Lone Star College—particularly the CyFair campus—has magnificent facilities, but residents in Cy-Fair ISD pay 12 cents per 100 dollar valuation for that campus. That's why Cy-Fair has a first class community college. What Katy has is a first-class community college without a first-class building.

If Katy ISD residents were interested in building a campus like that, HCC would certainly be interested in working with them to make that happen but they would have to join the property tax base.

How would that work?

The residents of Katy ISD would have to choose to do it. When a certain number of signatures were collected, it would permit an election within the district.

What would the tax rate be?

The tax rate for HCC right now is 9.7 cents per 100 dollars of valuation. It would be the same for Katy ISD.

What happens now is that Katy residents pay double for tuition, so instead of $200 for a course it's $400 for a course. That's the way that HCC pays for the buildings and programs.

If a tax were approved, would tuition fall?

Yes. If HCC could get tax revenue, the tuition would go down to the same thing that residents within the taxing district would pay.

The amount of money that HCC makes from tuition—even though it is double—is not as much as what it would be if there was a tax base.

What is on the horizon for HCC in Katy?

We want to talk with Katy ISD about more workforce programs and Level 1 certificates for students that are interested in the trades. We know that a lot of students don't have the opportunity to go off to school but I think it's a mistake to think in terms of 18-year-olds. Our average age per student is 28. The community college is about access and opportunity.

We're also interested in expanding our footprint in the Katy community with the UH. We're exploring all options.

What is the timeline for the UH partnership?

It's happening now. They are teaching their classes at our Katy campus. We are expanding that program in the fall. We have an agreement with UH where we use their Cinco Ranch site during the day, when it is under-utilized and they use our facility at night when we have room and we don't charge each other.

Are there any plans in the works for new facilities right now?

None that are firmed-up enough to talk about, but we're committed to doing something significant.