In-state undergraduate students whose families make an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less could get free tuition at any of the nine University of Texas System academic institutions, as per a proposal the Board of Regents’ Academic Affairs Committee advanced Wednesday.
If the full board approves the plan at its meeting Thursday, students who meet the threshold will not be charged tuition or mandatory fees starting next fall. The proposal would not apply to graduate students or those seeking to attend any of the system’s five health institutes.
The new threshold — which would be raised by $35,000 — marks the most “sweeping” investment in financial aid from a Texas system, the system said in a news release. More than 7 million Texas families would be eligible for free tuition under the new threshold, according to the system’s data.
Board Chairman Kevin Eltife told the American-Statesman in an interview that the $100,000 threshold will last in “perpetuity” thanks to a boost to the system’s Promise Plus endowments, providing hope for Texas families who could gain better access to higher education. It would also be made possible by an “immediate” infusion of $35 million into the system’s nine academic campuses.
“It’s the proudest accomplishment since I’ve been on the board that I’ve been a part of,” Eltife said. “This is a huge deal for families across the state of Texas.”
The proposal comes after Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to university chancellors Nov. 13 saying he would not support any tuition or fee increases at public higher education institutions over the next two years. He called on public universities to “take every step possible to ease the financial burden on our students and their families,” echoing a statewide push for creating pathways to higher education as tuition prices skyrocket nationally.
Eltife said this initiative is “absolutely in line” with the governor’s goals, and that the two initiatives will be a “one-two punch” for families across the state who want to go to a UT System institution.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board set a goal in its strategic plan to ensure 60% of Texans aged 25 to 64 have a credential of value by 2030 to meet the state’s changing and growing workforce needs. UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken said financial complications is the No. 1 reason students don’t graduate and he said this plan will help improve student success at UT institutions ―as well as boost Texas’ competitiveness in higher education.
“Thirty-five years of being in higher education, this is one of the most exciting moments,” Milliken said. “This is such an incredible action by the Board of Regents to do this, and not only to provide the $35 million now to bring our institutions level, but to increase also the amount in the endowments so that in perpetuity we can promise to Texans that this will be in place for their siblings, their children, etc.”
After the announcement, Texas Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, who worked in the Trump administration in 2016 and has been a recent vocal critical of LGBTQ-related minors and courses at UT Austin and beyond, decried the decision in multiple X posts, calling it a “liberal, regressive and possibly unconstitutional proposal.”
Eltife said the system does not set taxes, and the money for the endowment came from the system’s resources such as its endowment distributions, philanthropy and the Available University Fund, which draws money from university-owned lands. Eltife declined to further respond to Harrison’s claims.
“There’s no better way to spend (this system money) than helping students,” Eltife said.
If the board approves the plan Thursday, students can apply for the grants as soon as next fall. Students must be full-time undergraduates and qualify for federal and state aid to participate.
Milliken said UT Rio Grande Valley covers more than 90% of tuition for in-state families, and this effort was a concrete way that the board could level the threshold for all its academic institutions. The board hopes to raise the threshold further in the future, Milliken and Eltife said.
“Our ultimate goal is that Texans who want to attend college are not limited because of their resources,” Milliken said. “The more we can keep dropping those debt levels down, the more people are going to be able to see that they can go to college and not be burdened by it unduly.”
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: University of Texas System weighs higher threshold for free tuition
