Worked example · San Antonio
Two years at Alamo Colleges, then two years at UTSA
This page compares published tuition and fees only. Housing, books, course fees, and financial aid are omitted because mixing them in without a family's FAFSA is how directories invent savings. This is a published-price map, not a named state program.
Siblings: Austin ACC → Texas State / UT Austin · Houston HCC → Texas State · Dallas College → UNT Denton · TCC → UNT Denton · EPCC → UTEP · SPC → Texas Tech · Del Mar → TAMU-CC · TJC → UT Tyler · AC → WTAMU · STC → UTRGV · TSC → UTRGV · LC → TAMIU · MCC → TAMUCT · LIT → LU · OC → UTPB · VC → TAMUV · TC → TAMUT · Vernon → MSU · Cisco → ASU · Blinn → TAMU · GC → UHCL · CTC → TAMUCT · AC → SFA · ACC → TXST (San Marcos) · Alamo → A&M–San Antonio · HCC → UH–Downtown · Dallas College → UNT Dallas · HCC → Texas Southern · SJC → UH · LSC → UH · Collin College → UT Dallas · Kilgore College → UT Tyler · Grayson College → UNT (Denton) · WCJC → UH (Sugar Land) · Navarro College → ETAMU.
The question
A San Antonio–area Texas resident wants a public bachelor's. Path A: enter the University of Texas at San Antonio as a freshman under the Fiscal Services Traditional Plan and stay four years. Path B: complete about 60 transferable semester hours at Alamo Colleges at the Bexar County in-district rate, including Core Curriculum and — where it exists — a Field of Study, then finish two years at UTSA. Does Path B show a lower published tuition-and-fee total?
We pair Alamo with UTSA because Fiscal Services publishes one billed Traditional Plan total for a Texas-resident undergraduate at 15 semester credit hours. Alamo Colleges → A&M–San Antonio is a separate sibling map for South San Antonio. We also do not use a University of Houston campus-wide number; UH says rates vary by college. Texas Direct is credit application plus a THECB associate degree under Texas Education Code §61.834. It does not reserve a university seat. Admission is not guaranteed.
Published rates used
| Item | Published figure | How we use it |
|---|---|---|
| Alamo Colleges, Texas in-district (Bexar County) | $109.00 per semester credit hour | 60-hour tuition is pack arithmetic, not an Alamo printed total: $109 × 60 = $6,540 |
| Alamo Colleges all-student fees (FY 2026–2027 schedule) | Activity $3 per credit hour; student support $25 per semester (maximum $50 per academic year); international education $1 per semester | Four semesters / two academic years on a 60-hour map: $3 × 60 = $180 activity; $50 × 2 = $100 support; $1 × 4 = $4 international education. Tuition + those fees = $6,824. AlamoBOOKS+ is included in tuition — we do not add a separate books charge. |
| Alamo Colleges, Texas out-of-district | $180.00 per semester credit hour | 60 hours × $180 = $10,800 tuition — shown as a warning, not the default cell |
| Alamo Colleges, non-Texas / international | $327.00 per semester credit hour | Not used in the default map |
| Alamo Colleges three-peat and special-program tuition | Third-attempt $384 per credit hour; nursing, engineering, and other listed programs add extra per-hour tuition | Not folded into the default 60-hour cell |
| UTSA, Texas-resident undergraduate Traditional Plan | $5,315.05 per semester at 15 credit hours (Fall 2026 / Spring 2027 billed total) | Year = $10,630.10; 2 years = $21,260.20; 4 years = $42,520.40. We do not use the One Stop cost-of-attendance tuition-and-fees line of $11,476 — that figure is $845.90 above 2 × $5,315.05. |
| UTSA upper-division differential tuition | Alvarez College of Business $42; Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design $55; College of Science $50; College of AI, Cyber and Computing $42 — each per upper-division semester credit hour | Footnote only. Not blended into a campus-wide average. |
| Texas State, Texas resident tuition and fees | $12,240 per academic year (15 + 15 hours, 2026–2027) | Optional second map: 2 years = $24,480; 4 years = $48,960 |
Sources retrieved August 30, 2026: Alamo Colleges District; UTSA Fiscal Services; UTSA One Stop; Texas State University Admissions. All sources
Alamo Colleges → UTSA versus four years at UTSA
| Map | Published tuition & fees |
|---|---|
| Alamo in-district 60 hours T&F ($6,540 tuition + listed all-student fees) + 2 UTSA Traditional Plan years | $6,824 + $21,260.20 = $28,084.20 |
| 4 UTSA years at the same billed semester line | $10,630.10 × 4 = $42,520.40 |
| Difference in these published lines | $14,436.20 lower on the 2+2 map — a sticker difference, not a savings guarantee |
Sources retrieved August 30, 2026: Alamo Colleges District; UTSA Fiscal Services. All sources
Same Alamo in-district start, Texas State as the receiving public
| Map | Published tuition & fees |
|---|---|
| Alamo in-district 60 hours T&F + 2 years Texas State | $6,824 + $24,480 = $31,304 |
| 4 years Texas State at the same annual line | $12,240 × 4 = $48,960 |
| Difference in these published lines | $17,656 lower on the 2+2 map — again a sticker difference, not a savings guarantee |
Sources retrieved August 30, 2026: Alamo Colleges District; Texas State University Admissions. All sources
What has to be true for the sticker gap to be real
- The Bexar County in-district $109 rate actually applies to this address. Alamo lists out-of-district residents at $180 per credit hour. 60 hours of that tuition is $10,800, which changes the comparison. Non-Texas / international is $327 per hour.
- The university admits you as a transfer student. Texas Direct is credit application and, when Core plus Field of Study are complete, a THECB associate degree (TEC §61.834). It does not reserve a seat. Admission is not guaranteed.
- The hours apply to the major. Use a completed Field of Study when THECB says it is complete. See Texas Direct.
- You do not add a fifth year. Extra semesters at university rates erase the gap.
- You are not paying Alamo's third-attempt $384 per credit hour or the extra per-hour tuition listed for nursing, engineering, and other special programs. Those charges are published; they are not in the $6,824 cell.
- Upper-division UTSA hours in Business, Klesse, Science, or AI add the differential rates above. Those extras are not in the $5,315.05 semester cell.
What we omitted on purpose
UTSA One Stop's 2026–2027 undergraduate cost-of-attendance table lists tuition and fees at $11,476 and housing and meals separately (for example $10,484 housing and $5,878 meals on campus). Texas State lists housing and food at $13,330 for 2026–2027. We do not put a one-year Alamo cost-of-attendance line in the 60-hour cell. College Scorecard's average annual cost is net price after grants for first-time aid recipients. None of those belong in a sticker-tuition table, so they are not added here.
Sources retrieved August 30, 2026: UTSA One Stop; Texas State University Admissions; Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Texas Constitution and Statutes. All sources
Directory pages stay free. Published by Plain Steps. Optional $19 Texas Direct 2+2 worksheet.