25 by 25 Initiative

From the desk of Mae Nowak, Realtor®  

Have you heard about 25 by 25 and it's effect on our real estate market? The 25 by 25 initiative began as a response to a national calling for more engineering graduates. As of Fall 2017, there were 19,378 students in the College of Engineering. 25 by 25 aims to increase the program enrollment to 25,000 by Fall of 2025. That's an increase of 5,622 students. Part of the growth will be increasing physical enrollment and the other part will be on ensuring the current students are successful and remain in the Engineering program.

So how will they do it? The graph below shows where the college intends to promote growth to reach their goals. The current retention rate in the College of Engineering is 62%. The college's goal 75% retention would increase enrollment by 50%. In other words, a 6-year graduation rate from the College of Engineering. Remote sites, online master programs, and other off-campus programs will contribute to 35% of the growth. 

To help with the retention goal, the college will be eliminating automatic admission into the college and instead using a holistic review process to ensure students are prepared in the level of mathematics and science they will need. They will also be integrating engineering concepts into math and science courses during the first year of the program and keeping all classes below 100 students (as opposed to the previous max of 250). More than 50% of classes will be less than 50 students. 

So how does this effect real estate? 25 by 25 will be increasing the number of graduate and undergraduate students coming into Bryan/College Station. The initiative will also bring in faculty, staff, and contractors who will be building the new Zachary building, a 525,000 sq. ft. engineering building. Every year the program will be growing and with that growth, we are likely to see an increase in the rental and sales market as well!