University of Houston Expands to Katy

And the growing continues.....

There will be a meeting Tuesday between the University of Houston System administrators and newly elected state Senator Lois Kolkhorst.  They will discuss a major expansion of the UH Katy campus.  Currently UH has a small campus in Cinco Ranch but there are plans in the works for a much larger operation.

“There’s a need in the Katy area for a 4 year university,” said Jason Smith, Vice President of Governmental and Community Affairs for the University of Houston System.

On Thursday January 22 UH filed a preliminary request for a tuition revenue bond worth $58 million to fund the purchase of land and construction of a 60,000-square-foot facility. Smith tells Covering Katy that UH has not decided on a location, should the Texas Legislature approve the bond. The state would sell the bond and guarantee it, and UH would pay it off using tuition money, hence the name “revenue bond.”

“We’ve been successful in Sugar Land,” Smith told Covering Katy.  He expects if UH builds a similar campus in Katy it will be successful too.

“We’re also attempting to schedule a meeting with Representative Mike Schofield for later in the week,” said Smith.

The current UH Cinco Ranch campus is not believed to be large enough to meet the growing population of the Katy area.