Alamo Colleges District seeks approval for city’s first land surveying certificate program

The Alamo Colleges Board of Trustees gave the green light this week for college officials to seek approval for a new workforce certificate program that would be the first across the region to train land surveying technicians.

On Tuesday, the board issued the approval for administrators to propose the new program to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Commission on Colleges and Universities.

If approved by the board and commission, the program will begin at Northwest Vista College, with the option to expand across the other four colleges — San Antonio College, St. Philip’s College, Northeast Lakeview College and Palo Alto College.

“The program offers learners clear, stackable pathways to credentials of value and to family sustaining occupations,” said Sammi Morrill, Alamo Colleges vice chancellor for economic mobility and workforce development.

The San Antonio metropolitan area was identified as the only Texas metro without a dedicated pathway to earn these credentials, said Henry Griffith, dean of academic success at Northwest Vista College, told the board during his presentation last week.

But demand across the state of Texas is also linked to age distribution across licensed land surveyors, which lean heavily toward older professionals. The majority of registered surveyors reported being between the ages of 50 and 80, according to data from the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors presented to the board of trustees.

“Surveying has incredible workforce demand,” Griffith said. “The projected growth rate over the next ten years in the Alamo region is 12.5%. There are over 200-plus active annual postings in our region. “

The accelerated certificate program is designed to lead students to multiple credentials. The first-level credential, a Land Surveying Technician Occupational Skills Award, can be earned within four months and is linked to an annual salary of about $45,000.

An additional four months could lead students to a Land Surveying Technician Level 1 certification, which is linked to an annual salary of about $50,000. And with four additional months of classes, they could earn a Level 2 certificate and state licensure, leading to a salary of about $55,000 annually.

The total cost of the program for students who complete all levels is about $5,300, which is the cost of 37 hours — 10 of those core classes.

The expectation is for the program to start in the fall of 2027 with a cohort of 50 students. The estimated five-year investment for the program is $643,774, which would require one full-time faculty member, adjunct faculty and equipment. But the expected five-year revenue is $1,667,382, Griffith said.

To build this new pathway, Griffith and his team built an advisory committee that consists of area professionals among them Tim Pappas and Anthony Stermer of Datapoint Surveying, Raul Martinez of LTRA Engineers and Peter Aguirre of South Central Surveyors.

One of their recommendations was to link the program to an artificial intelligence micro-credential, which led administrators to the decision to house the program under the Northwest Vista College’s School of Emerging Technologies, Griffith said.

“One of the things that really excited us about this surveying [credential] is that it is such an established field, but when we talk to our advisory board they bring up the high level of integration of emerging technologies within the field, such as drones and sensors,” Griffith said.

The expectation is that the program will be offered online and would eventually expand to the Northwest Vista College Education and Training Center, a new 42,000-square-foot multi-use center in the Boerne area that is expected to reach completion in early 2027.

“It would be available, depending upon demand and interest, for expansion at other Alamo Colleges district sites,” Griffith said. “We are excited… for individuals that are already eligible to sit for the CET exam because they have that field experience. Many of them are adult learners and they are balancing families and the opportunity to take those classes online is of real value to them.”

The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.