The Albert and Mamie George Building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Jay Neal looked out over the balcony of University of Houston at Sugar Land’s technology building last month, surveying 180 acres of undeveloped land that stretched almost as far as the eye could see.
As the chief operating officer for the university’s two suburban locations, Neal sees prime growth opportunities.
The University of Houston Katy campus is shown in Katy Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, talks about the high-definition manikins used in the nursing program at the University of Houston Katy campus Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Manikins used in the nursing program at the University of Houston Katy campus are shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, talks about the manikins used in the nursing program at the University of Houston Katy campus Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
A bronze cougar statue is shown at The Albert and Mamie George Building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The rotunda in the The Albert and Mamie George Building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, talks about the e-sports room in The Albert and Mamie George Building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, talks about the Cullen College of Engineering buildings at the University of Houston at Sugar Land Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The Cullen College of Engineering 3 building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The Cullen College of Engineering 3 building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
An auditorium in the Cullen College of Engineering 3 building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Students are shown in an AI and robotics class in the Cullen College of Engineering 3 building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, is shown at the University of Houston at Sugar Land Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. The campus includes surrounding acreage available for expansion.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. The campus includes surrounding acreage available for expansion.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, is shown in the sky bridge between in Cullen College of Engineering buildings at the University of Houston at Sugar Land Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, is shown in the sky bridge between the Cullen College of Engineering buildings at the University of Houston at Sugar Land Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The Cullen College of Engineering building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
A Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) classroom is shown in the Cullen College of Engineering building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. The room features a collaborative layout with movable furniture and whiteboard tabletops.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
A Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) classroom is shown in the Cullen College of Engineering building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. The room features a collaborative layout with movable furniture and whiteboard tabletops.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The Albert and Mamie George Building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
A capstone studio and maker space at the University of Houston Katy campus is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Acreage surrounding the University of Houston Katy campus is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. The campus includes surrounding acreage available for expansion.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Neal and other UH leaders want to double enrollment in Sugar Land and dramatically expand in Katy, positioning both campuses as workforce pipelines for fast growth in Fort Bend and surrounding counties. But whether those plans move forward depends on state funding and shifting attitudes toward college degrees.
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Still, Neal said UH has a strong case, especially with President Renu Khator leading the effort and Fort Bend County’s rapid development along Interstates 59 and 10.
“I’ve never asked the question, ‘Why wouldn’t it be feasible?’” Neal said. “We’ve got a visionary president, we’ve got the ear of our legislature, we’ve got the support of the business community. We’ve got a steady supply of smart students that are getting great jobs. I think the pieces are there.”
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, talks about the open land available for expansion at the University of Houston at Sugar Land Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
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Suburban growth
Sugar Land currently has five buildings and UH’s Katy campus has one, but Neal seese room for dozens of new buildings in Sugar Land and at least seven more in Katy.
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If that sounds ambitious, it is. The last new facility UH built cost $65 million in 2023. More construction would require major philanthropic or legislative support. But state lawmakers who may have previously doled out funds have become increasingly critical of four-year universities.
Another question is how long a major expansion would take. Khator and Neal don’t have a timeline for their campus building plans; they hope that student enrollment will, and funding will follow. Eventually, they want to double Sugar Land enrollment from 5,000 students to 10,000 and multiply the Katy campus’ population five times, reaching 5,000 students.
They say the result will be more economic development in Fort Bend and surrounding counties. Nursing and education are major needs across Texas, plus Katy is close to major energy businesses, and Sugar Land has a booming tech industry.
“We need to own Houston,” said Khator, who also serves as chancellor for the broader UH System. “And those areas are really expanding … For us not to be there is not to fulfill our mission.”
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Sugar Land
An e-sports room in The Albert and Mamie George Building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Fort Bend County was one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation in the 2010s, as its population jumped 55% by 2023, just shy of 1 million residents, according to Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research. While growth is slowing in its most populous city of Sugar Land — it’s running out of space — business leaders believe the county’s population will reach 1.8 million by 2050.
Some of that growth is stretching to the outer reaches of Fort Bend, past Richmond and Katy. Fulshear was the second-fastest growing U.S. city in 2023 and 2024.
Despite that boom, Fort Bend has fewer two- and four-year higher education offerings compared to Harris County. Wharton County Junior College and Houston City College have some vocational training there, while UH is the main university in Fort Bend offering bachelor’s or graduate degrees.
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“They’re the cornerstone of Fort Bend’s workforce pipeline,” said Keri Schmidt, president and CEO of the Fort Bend Regional Partnership. “If we don’t scale higher education alongside our population growth, we really risk falling behind on our own success.”
The UH System ventured into Sugar Land in the 1990s, when it first leased a space for UH, UH-Downtown, UH-Clear Lake and UH-Victoria to offer classes that were in demand. Eventually, UH built two academic buildings and a library off I-59 and University Boulevard — one of its newer neighbors is the Smart Financial Centre.
Khator said by the 2010s, business partners wanted to see more dedicated face-to-face programs in Sugar Land. UH was already positioned to share resources from the main campus – many faculty already lived in Fort Bend – so instead of starting from scratch and creating a separate university, the UH System connected Sugar Land exclusively to UH in 2012.
A few years later in 2015, UH opened its School of Nursing. Students started at the main campus and took their last two years in Sugar Land. Two new academic buildings followed in 2019 and 2025.
The campus currently offers 28 programs — more than half at the graduate level. It also has more than 200 faculty and staff and offered more than 200 courses this spring. Provost Diane Z. Chase said that almost half of UH’s Cullen College of Engineering programs are based out of Sugar Land, including majors in biotechnology, computer engineering technology and mechanical engineering technology.
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Carlos Guzman, Fort Bend County’s director of economic opportunity and development, said UH helps him recruit companies to the area. Schmidt with the regional partnership said the university plays a role in mapping out the area’s strategic growth.
“Frankly, they’re at every table where we’re discussing critical issues facing Fort Bend County,” Schmidt said. “They’re that important.”
Katy
The University of Houston Katy campus is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. The campus includes surrounding acreage available for expansion.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The Katy campus is newer. The Texas Legislature gave its OK in 2015 for UH to buy land near I-10 and the Grand Parkway. The campus served UH-Victoria for nearly a decade, until that university moved from the UH system to the Texas A&M University System last year. (Khator said that UH-Victoria suffered major enrollment declines during the pandemic as other universities offered more online programs. A&M could fill the gap with agricultural programs, which UH couldn’t.)
The Katy facility now serves the main campus, and lawmakers gave UH $20 million to expand programs there.
The campus — which serves Harris, Fort Bend and Waller counties — currently offers bachelor’s programs in computer engineering and analytics, construction engineering, systems engineering and nursing. It also has graduate programs in nursing, education and computer science. The C.T. Bauer College of Business started offering select courses in Katy last fall, and recently announced executive development courses for business professionals.
Khator calls Katy her “talent accelerator,” aiming to launch programs with quicker graduation times.
“It’s just really exciting to be able to experiment some of the ideas in higher education, to serve the students better, to connect with the community better, to really support the businesses better,” Khator said.
Campus culture
Khator and Neal said one of their challenges with growth has been making the Katy and Sugar Land campuses feel like traditional university spaces for undergraduates.
The Sugar Land and Katy campuses are typically quiet, even though 6,000 people study there. Both hit record enrollment in fall 2025 and draw a mix of students.
Some are from Fort Bend County and chose programs that shortened a long commute to Third Ward. Fewer lower-level classes are offered at the satellite, however, so plenty of students still make the trek from Fort Bend to the main campus to earn those credits. Others make a reverse commute, going from the main campus to the suburbs because their courses, like some in digital media and biotechnology, are only offered there.
Students are shown in an AI and robotics class in the Cullen College of Engineering 3 building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Maria Patino, a senior in UH’s marketing program, said the difference between the Sugar Land and main campuses can be jarring. There’s an energy at UH that Sugar Land doesn’t have, she said.
“Main campus feels like college,” said Patino, who takes design courses at the campus. “Here, it just kind of feels, I don’t know, a little bit different.”
Several students said the more isolated nature of UH Sugar Land has been good for them, making them feel more connected to classmates.
Kendra Nguyen, a computer engineering senior, said she feels Sugar Land’s campus environment is safer and more inviting than at the main campus. And her classmate, Kenneth Stino, a junior, said that the newer technology in the classrooms is a bonus.
They said the primary drawbacks are a lack of on-campus food options and the wait times to get on the shuttle — not to mention the 26-mile ride between campuses can easily take over an hour.
Funding challenges
Chase said UH wants to make it easier for students to stay on their preferred campus and not commute. If she, Khator and Neal have it their way, UH at Sugar Land and Katy will become more vibrant, with more of the culture and happenings of a traditional university campus.
Some of that may develop when industry partners arrive in Sugar Land, Neal said. The university has 40 acres of land it wants to use for local companies where students can intern while taking classes. (UH is closing in on a developer now, Neal said.)
Other projects will need state funding, Khator said. Next they plan to ask for a student center in Sugar Land and a second academic building in Katy, she said.
“Legislature will not give you funds if you do not produce the results from the funds that they (previously) gave,” Khator said. “Our hope is that looking at the need in the community — there is tremendous need — simply because there isn’t any other higher education institution that is serving Katy or can serve Katy.”
But UH will have to compete with its peer institutions for capital funding, so even those first steps in Khator’s expansion plans aren’t a given.
State Rep. Gary Gates, R-Sugar Land, said he helped redraw his district last year to include the campus. But before he supports more construction funding, he said he wants UH to show a commitment to programs with direct workforce applications. Those sorts of programs are a staple at community colleges, but a growing number of lawmakers are pushing to reshape four-year universities as students carry more loan debt and an increasing number of Texans question the return on their investment in higher education. AI is deepening those concerns.
Higher education experts say those doubts are mostly misplaced. Ten years after graduation, a UH graduate can expect a ROI of $221,867, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis. That climbs to almost $2.1 million, 40 years after graduation.
“I’m happy to help them on this program (funding), but I want to see it focusing more in workforce,” Gates said. “Things are sort of changing, and nobody really knows what AI is going to do to a lot of jobs that require a college education. AI is not going to replace the carpenter or the electrician or the lineman or the diesel mechanic, but they are going to replace a lot in the medical field, in the law field and a lot of others in businesses.”
Jay Neal, chief operating officer of the Sugar Land and Katy campuses, talks about the high-definition manikins used in the nursing program at the University of Houston Katy campus Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
At Sugar Land and Katy, Neal and Khator said they’re already focused on preparing students for the workforce. Neal said that local companies will call him and say, “I need six,” and his professors will then refer six students to the companies directly.
“The objective is just try to see what will make the University of Houston part of the economic engine for those regions,” Khator said. “To us, that’s the bottom line. We’ve got to be the catalyst.”