The Promise Plus program will provide some UT undergraduates with tuition-free education beginning in the fall of 2025.
AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas System Board of Regents’ Academic Affairs Committee approved a new program that will provide free tuition for certain undergraduates.
Through the Promise Plus program, UT System Institution undergrads whose families have an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less will be granted tuition-free education beginning next fall.
The full board will vote on Thursday. Read more about the program here.
The plan will include an immediate infusion of $35 million in student aid to UT’s nine campuses.
These campuses include 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 University and UT at Tyler.
The Promise Plus program isn’t new. In 2022, the Regents created it with an endowment of nearly $300 million.
“Today’s board vote now establishes a new baseline of $100,000 for all of UT’s academic institutions, meaning any student whose family has an AGI of that amount or less, will not be charged any tuition or mandatory fees, regardless of the UT academic institution they attend,” a news release said.
Kevin P. Eltife said the decision was massive.
“To be in a position to make sure our students can attend a UT institution without accruing more debt is very important to all of us, and as long as we are here, we will continue our work to provide an affordable, accessible education to all who choose to attend a UT institution,” Eltife said.
To qualify for Promise Plus and the institutional programs it makes possible, students must be Texas residents, enroll full-time in undergraduate programs and apply for applicable federal and state financial aid.
More on student debt from UT
“At UT institutions, the average student debt not only has steadily declined over the past five years, but it is also 10% lower, on average than across Texas public four-year universities. Moreover, the percentage of UT graduates with debt has declined from 53.6 percent in 2019 to 47.8 percent in 2023. According to seekUT – a UT System free online tool for families that provides data on the earnings and educational outcomes of UT graduates – the numbers are even more impressive in critical workforce degree programs like nursing, computer science, accounting, and biology, where fewer than 45% of UT graduates take on debt.”
