About

Texas State University

Texas State University’s 34,087 students choose from 96 bachelor’s, 87 master’s and 12 doctoral degree programs offered by the following colleges: Applied Arts, McCoy College of Business Administration, Education, Fine Arts and Communication, Health Professions, Liberal Arts, Science and Engineering, University College and the Graduate College.

Texas State students come from around the globe, and our student body is diverse. Thirty-five percent of Texas State students are ethnic minorities. Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education ranks Texas State 13th in the nation for the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanic students. See the University Factbook for more information on our student body.

Location

Texas State’s main campus is in San Marcos, a growing community of 50,000 people about halfway between Austin and San Antonio. Located on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, where black land prairies roll into beautiful hills, Texas State enjoys a setting that is unique among Texas universities.

The beauty of the crystal-clear San Marcos River and the stately cypress and pecan trees on the campus adds to the charm of the university’s picturesque setting. Our location on the banks of the San Marcos River provides recreational activities for students throughout the year.

The Round Rock Campus (RRC) is the official name of Texas State University’s campus in Round Rock, Texas. Informally, this campus is often referred to as “Texas State-Round Rock.” On this campus, Texas State offers upper-level courses leading to bachelor’s degrees and complete master’s degree and certificate programs at convenient times close to where students live and work. Through partnerships with nearby Austin Community College (ACC) and Temple College at Taylor (TCAT), students can complete the lower-level courses comprising the rest of a bachelor’s degree program. Students who complete their degree requirements the Round Rock Campus earn their degrees from Texas State.

You can find more complete information about Texas State’s Round Rock Campus in these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

San Marcos Campus

As the university’s student population has grown — from 303 in 1903 to 32,087 in 2012 — our San Marcos campus, too, has expanded. Today it consists of a 457-acre main campus and 4,777 additional acres in recreational, instructional, farm and ranch land.

The Texas State campus is as diverse as the students who live and learn here. Our hilly campus is home to 225 buildings. Some, like Old Main, are as old as the university itself. Others, such as McCoy Hall, with the state-of-the-art T. Paul Bulmahn Research and Trading Lab, the Mitte Complex, which contains a high-tech clean room and microchip fabrication lab, and the STAR Park, which houses wet labs and nanocomposite materials fabrication equipment, are cutting-edge facilities.

At the Aquarena Center on the Texas State campus, you can see the second-largest springs in Texas through the floor of a glass-bottom boat. These springs feed the San Marcos River and are home to eight endangered species, including the Texas Blind Salamander. In fact, as the site of the Aquarena Center, River Systems Institute and Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center, our campus is one of the best places in the world to study aquatic ecosystems and species.

History

Authorized by the Texas Legislature in 1899, Southwest Texas State Normal School opened its doors in 1903. Over the years, the Legislature broadened the institution’s scope and changed its name, in succession, to Normal College, Teachers College, College, University, and in 2003 to Texas State University-San Marcos. Each name reflects the university’s growth from a small teacher preparation institution to a major, multipurpose university. Texas State’s original mission was to prepare Texas public school teachers. It became renowned for carrying out this mission, but today it does far more.