Lamar State College-Port Arthur is a two-year, state supported institution and is a member of the Texas State University System. Located in Port Arthur, an industrial and cultural center of Southeast Texas, the institution offers freshman and sophomore level work in numerous academic and technical/vocational fields. The campus is situated between the 1000 and 1800 blocks of Procter Street and Lakeshore Drive and occupies more than forty acres of land.

The Lamar State College-Port Arthur institution serves the metropolitan area known as the Golden Triangle, which includes the cities of Beaumont, Orange, Port Arthur, Vidor, Port Neches, Nederland, Groves, Bridge City, and Sabine Pass. All lie within twenty-five miles of Port Arthur and form the heart of the upper Texas Gulf Coast with a population of approximately 350,000 people.

John W. Gates of New York City and Port Arthur, one of the founders of Texaco, founded Port Arthur Business College in 1909. The school was organized to train radio operators for the maritime industry which was flourishing because of the prominence of the newly constructed oil refineries.

Port Arthur Business College became Port Arthur Collegiate Institute in 1911., when the school was presented to the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church North, a forerunner of the present United Methodist Temple. The church operated the growing campus until 1918, when it was turned over to a non-profit Texas corporation. This corporation had no capital stock and was overseen by a self-perpetuating board of trustees. The name of the school was changed back to Port Arthur Business College and finally, in 1932, to Port Arthur College.

On July 31, 1974, another milestone in the history of the school was reached. W. Sam Monroe, President of Port Arthur College and a Lamar University Regent, presented his fellow members of the Lamar Board a resolution seeking merger of Port Arthur College into Lamar University of Beaumont. The twenty-one trustees of the school agreed that the merger would be in the best interest of both institutions and their constituencies. Since the merger in 1975, enrollment in Port Arthur has increased from 151 students to more than 3,000. The curriculum includes over fifty areas of study.

The Texas Legislature approved Lamar University as a member of the State University System in 1995. This action was signed into law in June 1999, changing the name of the institution to Lamar State College-Port Arthur.

Lamar State College-Port Arthur is an open-access, comprehensive public two-year college with quality instruction leading to Associate degrees and a variety of certificates. The college provides affordable, quality educational opportunities to residents in Southeast Texas.

The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Associate degrees accredits Lamar State College-Port Arthur. It is approved by the Texas Education Agency for the training of veterans under all classifications. A student at LSC-PA can complete two full years of course work and satisfy the majority of the general education requirements for a bachelor's degree.

For additional information about Lamar State College-Port Arthur, visit their web page.