Students First

Students are the heartbeat of Texas State University, and the university’s 2025–2035 Campus Master Plan calls for a range of projects aimed at supporting student population growth and enhancing the Bobcat experience.  

A key theme of the Master Plan is “Student Success & Experience”—an effort to provide the necessary resources and experiences for students to earn a world-class higher education. Along with academic spaces, this means creating environments on the San Marcos and Round Rock campuses that allow students to flourish.  

“We’re full speed ahead on adding academic and research spaces, outdoor green spaces, and indoor communal spaces,” says Eric Algoe, executive vice president for operations and chief financial officer.  

TXST exceeded student enrollment of 44,000 for the first time this year, and the university is targeting Fall 2026 enrollment of 46,700 students, including 9,000 freshmen. University officials expect the student count to grow to 50,000 by 2033, including 10,000 freshmen.

The rapid growth over the past 15 years has created space constraints on campus, the Master Plan notes, and created a shortage of instructional areas, residence halls, dining facilities, study spaces, and social spaces.  

"I really think we're very fortunate to be in the state of Texas, because the state helps us pay for a lot of these projects,” Algoe says. “The fact that we're growing creates the need and the means to be able to fund a lot of these things, and we can accomplish an amazing amount of the work we lay out in these plans.”  

Cibolo and Alamito halls (Hilltop Housing Complex) and Richard A. Castro Hall recently opened to provide more campus housing for incoming freshmen. Hilltop Phase 2 will introduce around 1,500 new beds—replacing Smith and Arnold halls—to make space for continued student growth. The plan also includes a new dining hall connecting LBJ Plaza and Hilltop with a pedestrian bridge.  

The Master Plan includes plans for renovations at Alkek Library.

As the university has grown, demand for more office space has sometimes cut into communal spaces, Algoe says.  “We really want to make sure that we're updating our buildings to reintroduce more of that shared communal space, and we want to do that outdoors as well with some of our green space projects.”  

New social spaces will create additional room for students to engage with one another and campus life. Examples include plans for Hilltop Phase 2’s terrace and reimagined Alkek and LBJ plazas.

The Master Plan also focuses on parking and transit improvements. University officials would like to build three new parking garages—one each on North Street, East Sessom Drive, and Charles Austin Drive—while implementing lane reconfigurations and roadway adjustments to improve traffic safety and connectivity.  

The Master Plan also calls for the construction of a new building on the San Marcos Campus dedicated to interdisciplinary research, where students across all majors would be able to utilize flexible lab spaces.  

The Round Rock Campus is also growing rapidly. The campus enrolled nearly 3,000 students this year and aims to increase enrollment to 10,000 by 2030. Esperanza Hall, a new 80,000-square-foot academic building expected to be completed in 2026, includes large open areas, study rooms, and communal spaces on the first floor.

Also on the drawing board for Round Rock is the new Arch Building, reminiscent of the design of Trauth-Huffman Hall on the San Marcos Campus. “We see that as a campus center building with a student center, library, and rec center—everything that we have at San Marcos,” Algoe says. “This building will encompass a lot of those as a shared building dedicated to student success.”