In the coming weeks, the Houston Foresight blog will feature guest posts from members of the Student Needs 2025+ teams to share insights from their research and the implications of what they found. 

Thanks to Jim Breaux, current UH Foresight student, for this creative take on what Connecting will look like in 2025.
 

Big data picked my classes and classmates for the next 4 years – I need an edge to make sure that I get a good grade as we are all about equal.
I have a snap family – when I applied to college my mom’s put me up for ‘adoption’ and I’ll be staying with the TG couple who run the maker space near the school. #free #mommysboy
I change out all of my friends every 3 years, max. Some only last a month, especially if they are married. #protip
My dorm mate is a 60 year old guy that speaks Croatian but wears a Google prosthetic to translate. He smells like garlic all of the time. #lifeoffail
I like to go to archived services in VR. Helps me rest and go to sleep; especially the sermons. #protip
I checked into my high security, isolation dorm last week – my food is delivered weekly and I go to classes via tunnels – or I can VR into the classes. #anonymous
My parents caught me cybering with my friends in the wave pool in FaceWorld. I thought my password was encrypted. #pantsdown
In a virtch class for 3 years before I found out my crush was a test student completely fabricated by my Sociology department, not a quiet girl from Idaho. #virtualfail
It’s not paranoia if they really are watching you #tooboring #badday #voyeurtales
I hacked my location tag and it turns off whenever I get into public transportation. I run with the Ghosts on the subway when I am not studying Bio-Industrial Finance. #protip
Social credit score was lame til I got one of the maker lab combo courses from art college in Canada and Industrial engineering class in Brownsville #throughtheroof
Hacked my contacts and permanently burned my retina in one spot. #xrayvisionappdidnotshow mewhathelookedlikeinhisunderwearanyway
I always buy the product with one star if it’s cheaper – product laws make it all work out anyway – and if it’s good, I say I hate it to keep the cost down #protip
Saw two hipsters SHAKE HANDS today! No news of flu EP34 in their world? #toetouchesonlyforme
I know more about my classmates than they do because I bought the upgrade privacy penetrator app. #protip

The University of Houston Foresight program is exploring the future of Student Needs 2025 and Beyond for the Lumina Foundation, a leading higher education foundation with a goal of raising higher educational attainment levels from 40% today to 60% in 2025. We are tasked with providing Lumina a view of how student needs are evolving over the next dozen or so years. Put simply, could changes in student needs alter the equation of what higher education will need to providing by 2025 and beyond?
 
To map the student needs landscape of the future, the Houston Foresight program has assembled a team of two dozen faculty, alums, and students organized around six teams exploring evolving student needs related to living, learning, working, playing, connecting, and participating. We are using Houston’s Framework Foresight process to produce forecasts of student needs and identify the implications and issues they suggest for higher education.
 
Follow us on Twitter at @houstonfutures and join the conversation at #studentneeds2025.