New program will present free tuition for UT college students

AUSTIN, Texas — The College of Texas System Board of Regents’ Educational Affairs Committee permitted a brand new program that may present free tuition for sure undergraduates.

By means of the Promise Plus program, UT System Establishment undergrads whose households have an adjusted gross revenue of $100,000 or much less will probably be granted tuition-free training starting subsequent fall. 

The total board will vote on Thursday. Learn extra about this system right here.

The plan will embrace a direct infusion of $35 million in pupil assist to UT’s 9 campuses.

These campuses embrace UT at Arlington, UT at Austin, UT at Dallas, UT at El Paso, UT Permian Basin, UT Rio Grande Valley, UT at San Antonio, Stephen F. Austin College and UT at Tyler.

The Promise Plus program is not new. In 2022, the Regents created it with an endowment of almost $300 million.

“As we speak’s board vote now establishes a brand new baseline of $100,000 for all of UT’s educational establishments, that means any pupil whose household has an AGI of that quantity or much less, is not going to be charged any tuition or necessary charges, whatever the UT educational establishment they attend,” a information launch stated.

Kevin P. Eltife stated the choice was huge.

“To be able to verify our college students can attend a UT establishment with out accruing extra debt is essential to all of us, and so long as we’re right here, we are going to proceed our work to supply an reasonably priced, accessible training to all who select to attend a UT establishment,” Eltife stated.

To qualify for Promise Plus and the institutional packages it makes attainable, college students have to be Texas residents, enroll full-time in undergraduate packages and apply for relevant federal and state monetary assist.

“At UT establishments, the common pupil debt not solely has steadily declined over the previous 5 years, however it’s also 10% decrease, on common than throughout Texas public four-year universities. Furthermore, the share of UT graduates with debt has declined from 53.6 % in 2019 to 47.8 % in 2023. In keeping with seekUT – a UT System free on-line software for households that gives information on the earnings and academic outcomes of UT graduates – the numbers are much more spectacular in vital workforce diploma packages like nursing, pc science, accounting, and biology, the place fewer than 45% of UT graduates tackle debt.”