Type | Community College |
---|---|
Established | September, 1925 |
President | Dr. Robert Vela |
Students | 17,457 |
Location | San Antonio, Texas, USA |
Colors |
Red, Black, and Blue |
Mascot | The Ranger |
Website | alamo.edu/sac |
San Antonio College (commonly called SAC; pronounced "sack") is a community college that is a part of the Alamo Community College District. It is located on San Pedro Avenue, across from San Pedro Park and the VIA Metropolitan Transit headquarters, all of which are in the Tobin Hill district of San Antonio, just north of Downtown San Antonio. SAC is the oldest public two-year college in Texas. The college has an average semester enrollment of 22,028 credit students and an average annual enrollment of 16,000 other-than-credit students. San Antonio College is the largest single-campus community college in Texas and one of the largest in the United States.
The college’s thirty-seven-acre campus includes the Scobee Education Center (planetarium and Challenger Learning Center), a student center with food court, fine arts center, business building, a visual arts and technology center, the Chance Academic building, a nursing center, the Nail Computer Technology building, the Candler Physical Education Center that includes two courts, a regulation indoor swimming pool, racquetball courts, a dance studio, and tennis courts; McCreless Hall, Gonzales Hall, the Koehler Cultural Center, the president's home, a chemistry-geology building, the Longwith Radio Television and Film building, a library, and the Campus Police.
San Antonio College provides academic, vocational and professional education that allow students to continue their education at a university or four-year college. SAC is a comprehensive community college that also provides offerings in occupational and technical courses and has assumed the San Antonio Independent School District's continuing education programs.
In September 1925, SAC was first established as University Junior College under the administration of the University of Texas. However, the attorney general for the State of Texas ruled that the University of Texas was in violation of the state's constitution by operating a junior college. Therefore, the college was passed to the San Antonio board of education and renamed San Antonio Junior College. In August 1946, San Antonio Junior College was renamed again after control of the school passed from the board of trustees. San Antonio College was adopted as the official name in 1948, and in 1951, SAC was moved to its present location on San Pedro Avenue. Accreditation was granted to the college in 1955 from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.