Founding trustee Dr. J. Robert Collins retires after 41 years
Dr. J. Robert Collins ended 41 years on Collin College’s board by greeting his grandson at commencement, closing a founding era that began with 1,326 students in county high schools.
Dr. J. Robert Collins stepped off the Collin College Board of Trustees after 41 years, ending a tenure that began when the district was just taking shape and Collin County was still deciding how large its college system would need to become.
His final official appearance as a trustee came at Collin College’s May commencement ceremonies at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, where about 1,400 graduates received degrees. Collins was on stage to shake his grandson’s hand after the graduate crossed, giving his retirement a personal coda tied directly to the institution he helped build.
Collin College says its Board of Trustees sets the college’s vision, mission, strategic direction, policy and fiscal oversight. The board has nine at-large members elected by Collin County voters to six-year terms. Collins was elected to Place 8, and a 2024 college tribute said he served on numerous committees and in officer roles, including board chair.
The scale of the college now looks nothing like the one Collins joined in 1985. On April 6 of that year, voters approved the Collin County Community College District, a nine-member board and a $70 million bond issue. That fall, the first classes met in area high schools, serving 1,326 students. Collin College now says it operates 10 locations, including campuses and centers in Allen, Celina, Farmersville, Frisco, McKinney, Plano and Wylie, along with the iCollin Virtual Campus, and serves about 60,000 credit and continuing education students each year.
Collins’ retirement matters because his board helped steer that expansion while keeping the college’s low-cost identity intact. Collin College says in-district tuition remains $67 per credit hour, and trustees voted this spring to keep that rate unchanged for Fall 2026. In the college’s tribute to Collins, President Dr. Neil Matkin said Collin College’s history cannot be told without his guiding influence and dedication, and Collins said the board moved quickly to anticipate population growth and plan major campuses in Plano, McKinney and Frisco.
For Collin County, where population growth has pushed schools, roads and public services to expand in lockstep, Collins’ departure closes a chapter in the county’s higher-education governance. What remains is the system he helped shape: a countywide college built around access, affordability and a board still charged with guiding the next phase of growth.
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