Economic Impact

Lone Star College System is a major contributor to the local, regional and state economy and is a sound economic investment.

• Lone Star College adds $1.1 billion to the Houston economy with higher student incomes and increased business productivity. 
  
  
• LSC expands the Texas tax base by about $464.4 million each year by increasing state income and business productivity.
• 2008-2009 LSC students generate $14.2 million a year in social savings to the Texas public because an educated workforce has improved lifestyle behaviors, with fewer welfare and unemployment claims.
• LSC associate degree graduates earn an average of $15,700 more per year than a person with a high school diploma.
  

Why Completion Matters

At Lone Star College, our number one goal is student success and credential completion.  The future economic growth of our city and our state depend on having and well-educated and highly-skilled workforce.

• By 2018, 63 percent of all jobs will require post-secondary education.
• Only 4.3 percent of Americans with four-year degrees are unemployed, 15 percent of those without a high school diploma currently do not have a job.
• 14 million new US jobs will be created in the next decade, and all will require an associate degree or more.
• The single most effective disruptor of the poverty cycle are postsecondary credentials with labor market value – certifications, diplomas and degrees.
• Only 1 in 5 Texas 8th graders earns any type of degree within six years after finishing high school.
• Less than half of students who enter a community college graduate or transfer to a four-year college within six years. 
• More than 40 percent of community college students are first-generation college attendees, and more than half are older than 22 years old.

Lone Star College believes it is imperative that we do better. Lone Star College is the managing partner of Texas Completion by Design, a 5 year national grant project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation designed to transform the community college success rate for the state of Texas. And LSC recently launched My Degree Counts with a goal is to increase the region's college graduation rate by 1 percent by the year 2013, which translates into a $4.2 billion lift for the Houston regional economy. Our fast-track career and technical education programs and certifications can be sequenced to get students working in their field while continuing on the path to finishing their degree.

Lone Star College System is deeply committed to accelerating student success, increasing graduation rates and improving our economy.

Here's what Lone Star College students have to say

Students share their stories	Jacqueline Davis Thorn's Story
Jacqueline Johnson's A Veteran's Story	David Parra's Story
Wayne Lake's Story	Marisol Casorla's Story
Carrie Sullivan's Story