Much of UH at Katy’s enrollment growth is projected in health care, technology and education that reflect the demand of the state’s workforce, said Jay Neal, associate vice president and chief operating officer for UH at Katy.
“We have every degree that your heart could desire [at UH],” Neal said. “If you’re going to be at the [Katy] instructional site, though, there are real jobs tied to them.”
What's happening?
In the next five to seven years, UH at Katy officials estimate the college will have nearly 3,000 students enrolled, according to the college’s proposal to the 89th Texas Legislature.
The college’s legislative proposal shows the 150,000-square-foot building would provide space for:
- Undergraduate and graduate coursework for the Cullen College of Engineering
- Houston Community College-Katy students to take coursework before transferring to an undergraduate degree program
- Hines College of Architecture & Design to begin a co-enrollment Design Academy with two-year institution
- College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics undergraduate programs
- A phase-in of the Bauer College of Business’ programs
Demographers predict 44,239 new housing units will join Katy ISD over the next 10 years, according to a November report from demographics firm Population and Survey Analysts.
Officials said they believe expansions at the two colleges would continue supporting the growing area’s workforce needs in the engineering, technology, logistics and health care sectors.
While engineering, oil, gas and medical jobs dominate the I-10 corridor region, he said there will be more logistics jobs focused on automating warehouse and factory production.
“I think that's what you're going to see a push of in the future is more of that need for understanding of, how do we move goods and services from point A to point B?” Steinberg said.
The backstory
The push for more space comes less than 10 years after the colleges underwent capital improvement projects to build their campuses.
The 2015 Texas Legislature allocated $46.8 million for UH to purchase land after the college identified health care and energy as needed components in higher education for the Katy community, per the UH website.
The 80,000-square-foot campus opened in fall 2019, officially becoming a shared site for UH nursing and engineering students and the University of Houston-Victoria at Katy, per a news release.
Meanwhile, HCC spent $23.6 million to open its 120,000-square-foot Katy campus in 2022, relocating from 1550 Foxlake Drive, Hodges said.
Now, the building’s lecture and computer labs are reaching capacity before noon from Monday to Thursday, per HCC data.
What they offer
Both UH at Katy and HCC-Katy already have offerings that reflect the area’s workforce.
The UH site houses undergraduate courses for HCC’s Engineering Academy, where students can co-enroll at both institutions for an associate and bachelor’s degree.
The University of Houston-Victoria also offers a co-enrollment engineering bachelor’s program with HCC. However, with UHV at Katy transitioning back to the Victoria main campus, all UHV at Katy students will continue coursework online or in Victoria starting in fall 2026, HCC officials said.
“As Victoria is going to diminish, we're pushing really hard to offer more programs,” Neal said.
What they're saying
The UH at Katy instructional site offers coursework for the system's engineering, construction engineering, and computer engineering and analytics program, said Deepa Ramachandran, professor of computer and electrical engineering.
"The program was really designed and the curriculum was based on the feedback of [various industries] in West Houston," Ramachandran said. "I definitely think our students are well-equipped to get into these industries, particularly in medical and [technology]."
"We have so many different classes that somehow link with each other, but at the same time, they give you broader scale of what the market has to offer based on when you graduate," Mohamed said. "So when you graduate, you have a lot of routes you can follow because you've already been taught the fundamentals to be able to explore and link some ideas together."
The funding options
UH receives its capital improvement budget from allocations in the Legislature, but HCC depends on taxpayers to fund buildings, Hodges said.
Previously, HCC had two options for funding capital projects:
- Revenue bonds based on upping student tuition and building use fees
- Residents in KISD’s boundary would need to have a citizen-led election to enter the taxing district
According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the amount of funding community colleges can receive from the state depend on the:
- Number of credentials or degrees awarded, with a return on investment 10 years post-grad
- Students with 15 credit hours who transferred to or co-enrolled in a Texas public university
- Number of high school students who earned at least 15 credit hours through dual credit programs
The legislative session began Jan. 14, with a bill filing deadline of March 15, according to the Texas Legislative Council’s website. The session is slated to adjourn June 2, barring extensions through special sessions.
UH at Katy officials have proposed the request, but a bill number wasn’t available as of press time. However, Neal said higher education issues typically extend onto the special sessions that are scheduled after adjournment around October.
“In the past two sessions, if not three sessions, [UH requests] usually made it into the special sessions,” Neal said. “We’re prepared to go the distance.”
If awarded, university officials said they expect to receive funding in early 2026 and will begin the design phase for the building, which is anticipated to take approximately a year.
Aubrey Vogel contributed to this report.
