Making Policy Before Graduation: How Texas A&M Student Ben Crockett ’25 Changed State Housing Law
Students at Texas A&M always hear that they can make a difference—or that the skills they’re learning as undergraduates will help them shape policy in their professional careers. But for Ben Crockett ’25, there was no need to wait until graduation to start making an impact on local policy.
For Crockett, it all began in student government at Texas A&M. College Station’s notorious “no more than four” occupancy rule—and an even stricter “no more than two” standard in certain neighborhoods—made affordable housing near campus difficult for students to secure. Unrelated occupancy laws in College Station date back to 2006, but controversy pushed them into the spotlight in 2021, when new rules limited some neighborhoods to just two unrelated people per home. While the public often sees these ordinances as routine regulations for noise and safety, students felt the effects much more acutely. Crockett recalls “classmates debating which roommate they’d have to kick out, and parents attempting to reassure their kids that the men photographing their driveway were city officials or concerned residents enforcing the ordinance, not stalkers.” As a political science major, Crockett reflected on whether cities should have the power to regulate occupancy based solely on relationship status—a question touching on affordability, discrimination, and property rights. For him, a state-level solution was necessary: and he was ready to fight for it.
This spurred Crockett and fellow students into action, culminating in Senate Bill 1567. The bill, signed into law in 2025 after years of grassroots organizing and coalition-building, prohibits Texas municipalities from restricting residency based on familial ties. Instead, occupancy is now governed by health and safety standards, such as square footage requirements. The law specifically targets cities under 250,000 residents with universities of more than 20,000 students, and does not override rules set by homeowners associations. Its passage stands as a testament to the power of student engagement in shaping state policy.
Crockett seized the opportunity to learn how policy moves from an idea to written law. “It was a crash course in how policy actually gets made. I worked with students, property owners, housing advocates, and legislators to develop the proposal, build support, and answer concerns,” he says. He emphasizes the collaborative nature of legislation: “If I learned one thing, it’s that legislation is never one person’s work; it depends on bringing people with different perspectives around a solution that works—and sometimes that takes countless drafts, three floor amendments, and two committee substitutes.”
Throughout the process, Crockett leaned on Texas A&M political science faculty. He drew from Dr. Dwight Roblyer’s courses in American government, political philosophy, and public policy for strategic frameworks and guiding theory. Crockett also credits Dr. Todd Kent’s directed studies on campaigns for teaching that politics is “ultimately about people. Relationships, motivations, and persuasion can matter as much as or more than a strong policy argument.” He encourages all students to develop their writing and advocacy skills early: “Without them, convincing policymakers becomes impossible.”
Since graduating, Crockett has taken these abilities into a professional role as a policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. His advice for current students? “Don’t wait until graduation to apply what you’re learning. Get involved in student government, campaigns, legislative offices, research, or local government. Some of the most valuable lessons come from finding a real problem, doing the research, and trying to solve it. Texas A&M gave me both the foundation and the opportunities, and the experience showed me how much students can accomplish by advocating for ourselves. There’s a misconception that elected officials don’t listen to young people; more often, we simply fail to speak to them.”
