Putting aside the rampant construction, cranes and lifts towering over its South Side campus, officials at Texas A&M University-San Antonio have long felt they’re making a mark on the community.
Now, there’s proof. A new study estimates the economic impact of the young, fast-growing university has nearly doubled since pre-pandemic levels, from $166.3 million in fiscal 2019 to $292.6 million in 2023.
“I believe that the data shows our institution plays a very important role, especially in a part of San Antonio that is just getting ready to explode,” said Salvador Hector Ochoa, president of A&M San Antonio since August 2023. “It’s been a collective effort of staff who feel what they’re doing here is really creating legacy.”
The study by Lightcast, a labor market data company, will be released Wednesday on the university’s website. It provides the first comparable data to one completed four years earlier. The previous study was done by Emsi, which merged with another firm in 2021 to form Lightcast.
Ochoa said the report demonstrates the 16-year-old campus is an “economic powerhouse for our region, and we expect to see this impact grow exponentially.” It doesn’t even account for more recent progress: an increase in local A&M graduates from 1,424 in 2023 to 1,541 in 2024, and the addition of a nearby hospital, clinic and two other major facilities now under construction.
Officials said the study reaffirms their efforts to provide opportunities in an area of the city that has longed for economic investment. The university has about 8,000 students and is seeing a roughly 5% increase in enrollment annually.
“Our students aren’t just earning degrees — they’re building a foundation for lifelong financial stability,” said Provost Mohamed Abdelrahman. “Our mission is to serve as a pathway to success and prosperity, particularly for first-generation and underserved students.”
And they want to do more. Acting on a workforce analysis applied to areas within a 75-mile radius of the campus, TAMUSA is seeking funds from the Texas Legislature for new bachelor’s programs in construction management, electrical engineering, computer engineering, healthcare administration and nursing. It’s also developing a doctoral degree in educational leadership “to train future leaders to lead the schools, not only in South San Antonio but throughout San Antonio, an historically underserved area,” Ochoa said.
The university last year opened its second residence hall and a student recreation center, where its new men’s and women’s basketball teams host home games. Currently under construction are a public health and education building; Educare San Antonio, a cutting-edge child care facility; and construction of an outdoor competition track and multipurpose field.
Across the street from the campus is a 68-acre construction site for University Health’s new Vida health clinic and public health institute and its 166-bed Palo Alto Hospital, to open in 2027. The hospital complex is a part of a massive VIDA San Antonio planned community, which will have houses, townhomes, apartments, parks, trails and retail shops. Thousands will be “living right in front of the university,” Ochoa said.
But there also are challenges. TAMUSA is becoming a destination campus with some 2,000 students from outside Bexar County, including 30 states, Puerto Rico and 23 countries. It has on-campus residence space for over 700 students and is developing plans for a third, 300-bed residence hall.
Ochoa also wants to iron out “pipeline issues,” hoping to draw more students to the campus through early college high school programs in the East Central and Harlandale ISDs; transfers from the Alamo Colleges District; and through its Mays Center for Experiential Learning and Community Engagement and La Familia parent outreach initiative.
The study estimates TAMUSA graduates will each earn $1.2 million more in pay and benefits during their lifetime than graduates with a high school diploma.
“I worry about those that never get here. And what are we going to do as an institution? We have to do everything in our power to yield a greater harvest,” Ochoa said. “It becomes very important when you have a community that maybe they didn’t feel that going to college was within their purview or within their reach. It’s really exciting to see students build that confidence here, especially when they’re the first in their family to graduate.”
He also wants to be sure the university’s growth accurately targets workforce needs.
“It’s not just adding programs, but we want our graduates to be employable, having good-paying jobs,” Ochoa said. “If we add programs and they align very critically to what Bexar County needs, then it’s also helping to attract industry.”
The campus has automaker Toyota to the south; a new factory being built by U.K. manufacturing giant JCB to the west; and 380 acres to the east, known as the Espada Property, that it owns jointly with the San Antonio River Authority for potential development as a park and outdoor ecology and biosciences lab.
The campus envelope itself has about 100 acres developed and another 600 currently unused that could fulfill former A&M System Chancellor John Sharp’s vision to make TAMUSA the second-largest of the network’s 11 universities. A&M’s flagship campus in College Station currently has about 72,500 students, followed by nearly 18,000 enrolled at Tarleton State University in Stephenville.
“I joke; I tell people that I have more mesquite and cacti than anyone else in the country. We have plenty of room to grow,” Ochoa said.
“We just have to be very careful in that growth as we go forward.”
This article was originally written by Scott Huddleston for the San Antonio Express News.