Angelo State University

Angelo State University is a dynamic learning community located in the heart of West Texas. Ranked by The Princeton Review as one of the nation’s “Best Colleges” every year since 2010, ASU offers over 100 majors and concentrations through our six colleges:

After an unsuccessful 1923 bid to be selected as the home of Texas Technological College, the residents of San Angelo decided they would create their own college, even if they had to pay for it themselves. Funded by local contributions and a self-imposed county tax, San Angelo Junior College opened its doors in 1928 on North Oakes Street near downtown San Angelo.

When classes began, 112 students enrolled with city students paying $75 tuition and out-of-town students $115. In May 1929, six students walked across the stage in the institution’s first commencement exercise. Today, ASU has more than 27,000 alumni around the globe.

Barely had the college opened its doors than the Stock Market collapsed in 1929 and plunged the country into the Great Depression throughout the 1930s. But the college held its own, even dropping “Junior” from its name to become San Angelo College, or SAC, as it would be known until it became Angelo State University in 1965.

SAC survived the downturn of the Depression and the World War II years with an eye toward the future. Having outgrown its downtown campus, the college looked to move to its current location, though tax monies were inadequate to make the change to a new campus. The residents of San Angelo stepped in and raised $300,000 to help make the transition. The university broke ground on the Administration Building in 1947.