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Welcome to Southwest College
One of six regional colleges in the Houston Community College system, HCC Southwest caters to diverse student needs across all backgrounds and ages. It includes the West Loop campus near the Galleria, Brays Oaks campus in southwest Houston, and Stafford and Missouri City campuses in Fort Bend. HCC Stafford, the first permanent campus, opened in 1998.
HCC Southwest hosts the Digital and Information Technology Center of Excellence, offering training and credentials in fields like AI, cybersecurity, digital gaming, and more to meet workforce demands. It also features an Honors College for gifted students and the VAST Academy for differently-abled individuals. Students benefit from sports, paid internships, career services, student associations, and lifelong learning opportunities for older adults.
Welcome from the College President
Welcome to Houston Community College Southwest!
Whether you’re a new or returning student, I hope that you will explore all that HCC Southwest has to offer. We provide affordable, high-quality education that allows our students to advance and prepare for life and work in a competitive economy.
The college offers associate degree programs from which you can move on to a four-year university to pursue a bachelor’s degree or go right into a job. There are also certificate programs and short-term training that lead to in-demand jobs and rewarding careers. The college also offers free and reduced-cost learning opportunities for the community.
We offer a wide array of assistance to support you in every step of your academic journey – from scholarships and financial assistance to academic advising and apprenticeships through the college’s partnerships with industry. You can also explore cutting-edge technologies in our state-of-the-art facilities such as the Virtual Reality Lab and Innovation Lab. Also, you can enjoy student clubs and a range of athletic and recreational opportunities.
Take a moment to browse through what we have to offer here. Become an HCC Eagle today to soar to a tomorrow of your dreams!
Michael Webster, Ph.D.
President, HCC Southwest
In 1998, Houston Community College Southwest began its first day of classes at the Stafford campus, which has grown to encompass four learning facilities including the Learning Hub; the Workforce Building for education and training in smart manufacturing; the Scarcella Science and Technology Center, which is named after the late Stafford Mayor Leonard Scarcella; the Fine Arts Center that has a theater, recital hall and art and music studios. The campus offers courses in manufacturing; IT; construction trades; welding; business; and media, visual and performing arts.
In 1999, HCC opened the West Loop campus in a 200,000-square-foot building that formerly housed an Incredible Universe electronics store. Today, the campus is home to the Digital and Information Technology Center of Excellence focused on programs such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, coding, cloud computing, digital gaming and simulation, and digital communication. The campus also features a cutting-edge Virtual Reality Lab for instruction and industrial career training; Innovation Lab that highlights robotics; a Cisco networking lab; and a programming lab under construction in partnership with Apple Inc.
The Brays Oaks campus began as the college’s response to the community need for affordable workforce training. In a partnership with the City of Houston, HCC purchased the land to build the campus with a city Community Development Block Grant of $700,000. The $12 million campus opened in 2017. The 28,000-square-foot Brays Oaks campus includes six classrooms, three computer labs, a phlebotomy lab, an electrical technician training lab, as well as administrative and student support services offices. The campus offers health profession programs including phlebotomy, a Medical Business Office Professional program, and a Medical Assistant program under development. The campus also offers IT courses, an electrical technician program, and citizenship exam preparation.
HCC opened its first Missouri City location about two decades ago in a shopping center on Texas Parkway. As the community continued to grow, the campus reopened in Sienna Plantation in 2008, which included a 45,000-square-foot building and a partnership with the county to open a library adjacent to the campus. In 2017, a new Missouri City campus opened adjacent to Missouri City Hall. The 69,340-square-feet building offers prerequisite courses for health professions such as medical coding and Medical Business Office Professional. Also offered are courses in IT, business management, real estate, natural sciences, and social and behavioral sciences
Instructional Locations
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Connect with Southwest College
Southwest College
Contact Us
Brays Oaks Campus: 713.718.8600
Gulfton Center: 713.718.7760
Missouri City Campus: 713.718.8407
Stafford Campus: 713.718.7800
West Loop Campus: 713.718.7868
Stafford Workforce Center – 713-718-2183 (Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m).