Expect more of a presence from Texas Tech University in Brownwood in the near future.

The Brownwood City Council, on Tuesday night, approved on a vote of 5-0, the Brownwood Municipal Development District Board action to lease office space for Texas Tech University.

Recently, Texas Tech University signed Memorandums of Understanding with Ranger College and Texas State Technical College in Brownwood.  “If you get an Associate Degree from T.S.T.C. or Ranger College, you’ll be able to transfer those credits to Texas Tech that can apply to a Bachelor Degree,” said Ray Tipton, Executive Director of the B.M.D.D.  “The beauty of this is that Texas Tech is going to hire a full-time advisor that will be staffed in Brownwood, Texas that will be able to walk people through this.  They will take these tech courses through distance learning programs, mostly online to start out but it can be expanded to video streaming, so you will literally be able to get a four-year Bachelor Degree, here in Brownwood, Texas for a price tag of $10,000 to $20,000, depending on what you end up doing,” Tipton said.

The Texas Tech office space will be at 1 Center Avenue and lease for $1,300 per month for a five-year term plus $2,500 furniture allowance, paid by BMDD.

Texas Tech plans to hire the Brownwood adviser this summer and have their Brownwood office open by September 1, Tipton said.