More than 100 people gathered at Austin Community College's Hays Campus this week as the district broke ground on a new Healthcare Professions Building, a project meant to help solve one of the region's most stubborn problems: not enough space to train the nurses, dental hygienists, and surgical technologists that fast-growing Central Texas desperately needs.
The project is a health sciences building. As Community Impact reports, the building will accommodate 900 to 1,000 students and is designed to expand access to programs preparing students for regional healthcare careers.
The new facility will support nursing, dental hygiene, sonography, surgical technology, and radiological technology programs, according to the same Community Impact report. It will also include dedicated simulation spaces and lab spaces so students can practice clinical skills before heading into real hospital and clinic settings. ACC's School of Health Sciences and School of Nursing currently offer more than 15 degree programs and enrolled more than 3,400 students in fall 2026, per the outlet, with health programs also available across ACC's Eastview, Round Rock, Elgin, and Highland campuses.
A Bond Voters Approved Without Raising Their Own Taxes
The Hays Campus expansion is funded through ACC's $770 million General Obligation Bond, which Central Texas voters approved on November 8, 2022, according to the Austin Community College District. That measure marked ACC's third-ever general obligation bond, per the district's own account of the 2022 proposal.
State Sen. Judith Zaffirini said, per the same Community Impact reporting, that the project represents an investment in students and preparation for the workforce. Tiffany Ricks added that the new building will offer diverse learning experiences and house simulation and lab spaces in one place, the outlet reports. Regional demand for skilled healthcare professionals contributed to development of the new building, according to an ACC release cited in that coverage.
Kyle's Population Boom Meets a Statewide Nursing Shortfall
ACC's Hays Campus expansion is intended to help meet healthcare needs in Kyle, Hays County, and Central Texas more broadly, per Community Impact. ACC officials say the expansion will help double the college's healthcare programs.
At ACC, health sciences enrollment rose 18.3 percent in fall 2025. Nursing programs nationwide turned away 93,176 qualified applications that year, primarily because of insufficient clinical placement sites, faculty shortages, and limited classroom space, as reported by Community Impact Newspaper.
Design, Timeline, and What Comes Before It
Construction is scheduled to run through August 2028, with the facility on track to open for students in the fall 2028 semester, per Texas Construction Media.
Feeding the Pipeline From High School to Hospital
The college launched a healthcare academy for teens in partnership with Hays CISD and Pflugerville ISD, backed by more than $10 million in philanthropic support, according to Workforce Solutions Capital Area. Major funders included $6.3 million from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and $3.2 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies, per the organization.
ACC institutional data shows that nearly 80 percent of the college's graduates remain to live and work in the Austin area, earning an average income increase of 45 percent within five years of graduation, according to the district. ACC serves approximately 80,000 students annually across its service area. The healthcare academy offers a workforce pathway for students, while the new Hays Campus building will expand ACC's healthcare training facilities.
