ACC Hays classes to begin Jan. 13

Mason said the final price tag of the campus, including land, technology, furniture and equipment is about $45 million.

The 88,000-square-foot campus will offer classes in computer studies, biology, chemistry, accounting, criminal justice and more. It includes 17 general-purpose classrooms along with dedicated rooms for chemistry, biology and other subjects. Mason said the campus includes about 28 classrooms, which can support up to 2,000 students throughout the course of a week.

Neil Vickers, vice president of finance and budget, said officials are anticipating the fall 2014 enrollment to be close to 2,000 students. The college's total land area includes about 96 acres and Vickers said the addition of more buildings is almost inevitable. At full build-out, the campus could accommodate up to 10,000 students, he said.

"The additional phases, there isn't a timeline for them," Vickers said. "They will be dependent on growth and how fast we fill this up, but they have already been master-planned."

Vickers said Kyle's growth and the existing infrastructure at Plum Creek helped influence the college's decision to build a campus in the city. The new campus will provide residents of Hays and southern Travis counties an alternative to driving to the college South Austin campus, he said.

Officials were originally hoping to open ACC Hays in fall 2013, but the legal challenges to Kyle's annexation into the ACC taxing district delayed the start of construction about a year. Mason said crews were able to make up about six months, so that campus is only opening a semester later than originally anticipated.

"We were never concerned," Vickers said. "We knew that we had complied with all the requirements of the law, so the concern was really just about delays to the project. We never really had a concern that the project wouldn't end up going forward."

Texas State Pathway Program

In March, ACC and Texas State announced a co-enrollment program that will give ACC students a pathway to admission at the four-year university.

Students will take 9 core curriculum hours and three hours at the Texas State campus. Students will pay ACC tuition rates during the first two years, and if they are able to maintain a GPA of at least 2.25, they will be guaranteed admission to Texas State.

"They'll have all the rights and privileges of a Texas State student," Reyes said. "They'll have access to the dormitories and they'll be able to participate in clubs and programs."