Worked example · Downtown Houston

Two years at Houston Community College, then two years at University of Houston–Downtown

This page compares published tuition and fees only. Housing, food, books, transportation, parking, course and lab fees, HCC distance-education and building-use fees, UHD program differential tuition, 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 · Alamo Colleges → UTSA · 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 · LSC → SHSU · ACC → TXST (San Marcos) · NCTC → TWU · Ranger → Tarleton · PJC → ETAMU · San Jacinto → UHCL · TCC → UTA (Arlington) · Dallas College → UT Dallas · Blinn → Prairie View A&M · Alamo → A&M–San Antonio · 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 Downtown Houston resident wants a public bachelor's. Path A: eight semesters at the University of Houston–Downtown, Undergraduate Texas Resident, Fall 2026–Summer 2027, 15 credit hours, Tuition & Mandatory Fees. Path B: complete about 60 transferable semester hours at Houston Community College (the college now also brands itself Houston City College) at the published In-District rate, including Core Curriculum and — where it exists — a Field of Study, then finish two years at UHD. Does Path B show a lower published tuition-and-fee total?

We pair HCC with UHD because UHD sits at One Main Street in Downtown Houston. HCC In-District is a Texas resident at a street address in HCC's taxing district (Houston ISD, Alief ISD, Stafford MSD, part of Missouri City; HCC's service-area sentence also lists North Forest ISD). PO boxes and dorm addresses do not qualify. Check your own address against HCC's taxing district — do not assume every Houston address is in-district. Out-of-District is an alternate row. Out-of-State/International is a warning row. HCC → Texas State is a separate sibling map that uses HCC with a different receiving university.

UHD sets its own transfer criteria — context and link-out only. Read UHD's pages directly. PathMax does not guarantee admission: no seat, major, scholarship, timeline, or savings promise. Texas Direct is a THECB pathway / Texas Direct Transfer Degree (associate) under Texas Education Code §61.834. It does not reserve a UHD seat. Admission is not guaranteed. Do not merge that language with TEC §51.8035. 2+2 is not a named state program.

Published rates used

In-District HCC rates apply only at a street address in HCC's taxing district. Check residency with HCC.

Item	Published figure	How we use it
Houston Community College, In-District 2026-2027, 15 credit hours	$1,270.50 per semester	Default cell. HCC calculator logic: $33×15 + $25.50×15 + $25×15 + $12 activity-fee cap + $6 recreation fee = $495 + $382.50 + $375 + $18 = $1,270.50. The published “$84.50 per hour” total includes the $1/hr activity fee capped at $12, so 15 hours is not $84.50×15+$6. 60-hour math is pack arithmetic: $1,270.50 × 4 = $5,082.00.
Houston Community College, Out-of-District, 15 credit hours	$2,710.50 per semester	Alternate only. $121×15 + $33.50×15 + $375 + $12 + $6 = $2,710.50. 60 hours = $10,842.00. Illustration: Out-of-District 2+2 = $10,842.00 + $17,657.00 = $28,499.00 (gap $6,815.00). Not the In-District default cell.
Houston Community College, Out-of-State/International, 15 credit hours	$3,408.00 per semester	Warning only. Not the default Texas-resident cell.
University of Houston–Downtown, Fall 2026–Summer 2027 Undergraduate Texas Resident, 15 credit hours, Tuition & Mandatory Fees	$4,414.25 per semester	Default receiving-university cell. $3,686.25 tuition + $728 mandatory fees: Advising $80, Center $35, Computer Use $180, Extended Access & Spt $65, Int'l Education $4, Library $64, Records Office $20, Student Service $150, Wellness Ctr $130. Two years = $4,414.25 × 4 = $17,657.00; eight semesters = $4,414.25 × 8 = $35,314.00.
University of Houston–Downtown, Fall 2026–Summer 2027 Undergraduate Non-Resident, 15 credit hours	$10,834.25 per semester	Warning only. Not the default Texas-resident cell.

Footnote only — not default cells: UHD Five-Year Fixed Rate 2027 Cohort resident 15 SCH $4,605.50. That plan is opt-in and only for first-time-in-college or transfer students with 30 or fewer transferable hours, so a ~60-hour HCC transfer is not eligible. UHD program differential tuition (+$2 to +$5 per credit hour by college) is not in the totals. Parking, course/lab fees, and orientation fees are also excluded. HCC distance-ed fee ($42/online course) and Katy building-use fee are excluded.

Sources retrieved October 21, 2026: Houston Community College; University of Houston–Downtown Student Accounting & Cashiers; University of Houston–Downtown Student Accounting & Cashiers; University of Houston–Downtown Student Accounting & Cashiers; University of Houston–Downtown Student Accounting & Cashiers. All sources

Houston Community College → UHD versus eight UHD semesters

Map	Published tuition & fees
HCC In-District 60-hour path ($1,270.50 × 4 = $5,082.00) + 2 UHD Undergraduate Texas Resident years ($4,414.25 × 4 = $17,657.00)	$22,739.00
8 UHD Undergraduate Texas Resident semesters ($4,414.25 × 8)	$35,314.00
Difference in these published lines	$12,575.00 lower on the 2+2 map — a sticker difference, not a savings guarantee

Sources retrieved October 21, 2026: Houston Community College; University of Houston–Downtown Student Accounting & Cashiers. All sources

What has to be true for the sticker gap to be real

The HCC In-District $1,270.50 semester actually applies. That is a street address in HCC's taxing district. Out-of-District 15 hours is $2,710.50. Out-of-State/International 15 hours is $3,408.00. Check residency with HCC.
UHD admits you as a transfer student. Texas Direct is a THECB pathway / Texas Direct Transfer Degree (associate) under TEC §61.834. It does not reserve a UHD seat. Admission is not guaranteed by PathMax — no seat, major, scholarship, timeline, or savings promise. UHD sets its own transfer criteria. Read UHD's pages directly. Do not merge that credit / associate language with TEC §51.8035.
The hours apply to the major. Use a completed Field of Study when THECB says it is complete. Computer Science, Biology, English, Architecture, and Engineering are not completed Texas Direct blocks on the THECB table we last fetched — do not treat them as one. See Texas Direct.
You stay on the UHD Undergraduate Texas Resident $4,414.25 cell. The Five-Year Fixed Rate 2027 Cohort resident 15 SCH $4,605.50 plan is higher and a ~60-hour transfer is not eligible. Program differential tuition, lab fees, and extra semesters can raise the UHD line above $4,414.25.
You do not add extra semesters at university rates. Extra semesters erase the sticker gap.

What we omitted on purpose

This table is sticker tuition and mandatory fees only. Housing, food, books, transportation, parking, course/lab fees, HCC distance-ed and building-use fees, UHD program differential tuition, international health insurance, installment fees, cost-of-attendance living averages, College Scorecard, and aid/scholarship dollar effects are omitted. This is arithmetic on published price lists, not a quote from a bursar.

Directory pages stay free. Published by Plain Steps. Optional $19 Texas Direct 2+2 worksheet.