The Lone Star College Montgomery Experience

THE WOODLANDS, TX - We sat down with Dr. Rebecca Riley, President of Lone Star College Montgomery to talk about how the Lone Star College System has grown, new programs they offer and the college’s future growth. She has been the President of LSC Montgomery since 2015, and has also been a part of the Lone Star College system for the past 26 years. She was formerly vice president for instruction at LSC-Kingwood. She was appointed as the 4th president of Lone Star College Montgomery. We asked Dr. Riley various questions regarding Lone Star College Montgomery specifically and the Lone Star College System in general and what we learned is that there are some very interesting and amazing things you should know about the college. These are a few things she told us.

LSC is one of the largest community college systems in the country

Many people may not know this but the Lone Star College System is the second largest community college in Texas and one of the largest community college systems in the country. It is a fast growing college. According to their website for the the Montgomery campus, “Enrollment for the fall 1995 semester was approximately 3,200 students”. Today Lone Star College Montgomery boasts over 4 times that number. In Texas, the Lone Star College system is second only to Dallas Community College. There are approximately 16,000 students at the Montgomery College and almost 100,000 students in the entire system. For years, Lone Star College has provided an affordable way for students to get a quality education close to home and with various career options. With the inclusion of three bachelor degrees programs, over 100 associate degree programs and the partnerships with various colleges around the state, Lone Star College is an excellent place to start your college experience and in many cases complete your 4-year degrees. The community college of today is a far cry from what it used to be. There are opportunities in today’s Lone Star College System environment that would be considered unheard of decades ago.

Lone Star College Montgomery - Serving More Students

Rebecca mentioned that LSC Montgomery served more students in 2019 than any other year to date. They enrolled over 16,000 students that year. When Covid hit, like everyone else, they needed to adjust to the demands of the pandemic. She told us that even during the worse part of Covid-19, the Lone Star College Montgomery didn’t have to let any of their employees go. They kept all full-time employee and paid several weeks of their part-time staff. It was a testament to the efficiency of the college and their dedication to their employees.

We asked Rebecca how the residual effects of the pandemic are affecting this upcoming semester. She mentioned that she is seeing some students opt into their online programs, but face-to-face programs are filling up and they are confident that they will not only reach their peak in 2019, but exceed it. She told us that there isn’t an additional fee to do online courses, so in the case of students wanting to participate remotely, they have options for that.

View a Virtual Tour of the LSC Montgomery Campus




We asked her about the bachelor degrees offered at LSC Montgomery. Rebecca stated -

“A few years ago the legislature approved us to do three bachelor degrees and then just recently on June 16, the governor signed legislation allowing us to expand to five bachelor degrees under certain conditions. It is a limited number and our purpose is to create degrees that serve a labor market demand. For example we have a bachelor's degree in cybersecurity. Our bachelor degrees are designed to help people in skilled trades, who are advancing their career at a certain point in a skilled trade. They may want to move up into management, and that requires a degree, but many times their associate's degree doesn't really map well into a bachelor's degree, so we've created a degree that takes into account the expertise gained through those kinds of careers and builds into a supervision management type degree. We'll be looking at adding some new bachelor's degrees that fit similar niches. LSC began to offer Bachelor of Science in Nursing; Bachelor of Applied Technology in Cybersecurity; and Bachelor of Applied Science in Energy, Manufacturing and Trades Management degrees in fall 2019.”

Visit LoneStar.edu/Bachelors-Degrees to learn more about their bachelor degrees.



Rebecca also mentioned that they are in the process of building a new conference center on campus and are targeting October of this year for having that building complete and ready for use by the end of the year. It is a wonderful facility that will house student services. Rebecca said -

“The conference center or student services center will have registration. counseling, advising, business office, financial aid, and other services associated with enrollment management systems that will be in that building long with a conference center.”

Dual Credit Courses - What you don’t know

One of the cool things that high school students can participate in is the dual credit hours program through LSC Montgomery. What is interesting is the makeup of the LSC Montgomery student body. Most people don’t know this, but out of the 16,000 students that are enrolled, about 25% are dual credit course students. This includes public school students and homeschooled students. It is a great way to get a jump on the initial courses and costs of college. LSC Montgomery is a great value normally speaking. Rebecca mentioned that you can get an associates degree for about $5,000 total and a bachelors degree for about $10,000. One especially cool aspect of dual credit courses is that those students are not required to pay tuition. They pay a small fee for the course, but the tuition is waived. They can take around 42 hours in dual credit courses. She mentioned that these courses are part of the core education requirements of all public colleges in Texas, so transfer of the courses are not an issue. The student just needs to make sure that the dual credit courses they take are part of the degree program that they choose at their college of choice.

LSC Montgomery is 26 years and counting

LSC Montgomery has been around since 1995. They celebrated their 25th anniversary last year. The Lone Star College System itself has been around since 1973 and it was originally called North Harris County College. It was formed in 1972 and opened its first classes in 1973. When they expanded to Montgomery County in 1991, then changed their name to North Harris Montgomery Community College. The new name, Lone Star College System wasn’t adapted until 2007. The dedication of LSC Montgomery was voiced by George W. Bush, then Governor of Texas. A funny story about LSC Montgomery is that the mascot used to be a squirrel. It wasn’t until their 15th anniversary that the mascot was changed to a Maverick. Monty the Maverick.

About Lone Star College Montgomery

The college offers 40 career programs plus academic transfer courses in a variety of subjects. Programs include aviation, live entertainment technology, criminal justice, physical therapist assistant, biotechnology, nursing, human services, computer information technology, management, radiologic technologist, audio visual systems specialist, land surveyor/mapping technology, fire science, and much more. Weekend classes provide more options for those seeking to take one or more classes Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. A comprehensive range of transfer, vocational, and remedial programs--including art, music, science, history, and government--is also available. A continuing education division provides workforce and customized corporate training via Lone Star Corporate College. LSC-Montgomery also offers summer youth camps and a year-round robust learning organization for active, older adults—the Academy for Lifelong Learning (ALL). Just footsteps away is the Lone Star College-University Center at Montgomery, which offers bachelor's, master's and specialized degrees from several area universities in a variety of majors. Also, Sam Houston State University The Woodlands Center opened next to LSC-Montgomery in 2012, providing additional bachelor's, master's and doctorate programs.

Click here to learn more about Lone Star College Montgomery