UT System undergraduate student whose families have an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less will be eligible for tuition-free educations at any of the system’s nine schools after the Board of Regents’ Academic Affairs Committee gave preliminary approval to the plan.

The free tuition offering is slated to begin next fall.

Following the full board’s consideration and vote Thursday, the plan would include a new, immediate infusion of $35 million directly to the campuses to make the UT System the first in Texas—and one of the few in the U.S.—to offer such a sweeping financial aid benefit.

“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’ll continue our work to provide an affordable, accessible education to all who choose to attend a UT institution,” Kevin P. Eltife, chairman of the board of regents, said in a statement. “By making both immediate campus allocations as we did today, as well as continued long-term investments in our Promise Plus endowments, we want hard-working Texas families and students to know that we will do everything in our power to support their higher education aspirations today and always.”

Boosting aid threshold from $65K to $100K

The University of Texas at Autin [Photo: UT]

The system said the vote also would direct more investment in its endowments supporting financial aid, ensuring the commitment of tuition relief in perpetuity. The system said the combination of these actions will ensure that the average student debt at UT academic institutions continues to decline. The system said that today, it is the lowest across Texas public four-year universities.

UT said that this is a next significant step in the regents’ ongoing commitment to guarantee that every qualified Texan who aims to earn a bachelor’s degree from a UT institution can do so, regardless of financial circumstances. In 2019, the regents established a $167 million endowment at UT Austin to completely cover tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate students from families with an AGI of up to $65,000, and with support to alleviate much of tuition costs for families earning up to $125,000.

In 2022, the regents doubled down with a second endowment of almost $300 million — collectively called “Promise Plus” — to extend the program to all UT academic institutions. The Promise Plus endowment supplemented the universities’ existing financial aid programs to reach more need-based qualified students, with eligibility thresholds at $65,000 and above.

The board’s vote establishes a new baseline of $100,000 for all of UT’s academic institutions, meaning any student whose family has an AGI of $100,000 or less, will not be charged any tuition or mandatory fees, regardless of the UT academic institution they attend.

Immediate impact of lowering student loan debt

The system said the Promise Plus program has had a major and immediate impact on UT institutions, even in its first year of implementation in 2022.

For example, the system said that UT El Paso was able to increase no-cost tuition opportunities to 450 additional students in 2022 over 2021, and it raised the threshold of eligibility from $60,000 to $75,000, reaching 75 percent of households in the region. UT Rio Grande Valley covers over 90 percent of its resident undergraduates, making it the largest no-cost tuition program in Texas and one of the largest in the nation.

The system said that similar leaps were made at all UT institutions.

“What’s particularly gratifying to me, and to UT presidents, is that the regents are not only addressing immediate needs of our current students, but they are taking the long view, ensuring that future generations will continue to benefit from this remarkable program,” UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken said in a statement. “Across UT institutions, enrollment is growing, and student debt is declining, indicating success in both access and affordability. That’s a rare trend in American higher education, and I’m proud the UT System is in a position to be a leader.”

The system said that at its 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.

Also, the percentage of UT graduates with debt has declined from 53.6% in 2019 to 47.8% in 2023, the system said. 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 such as nursing, computer science, accounting, and biology, where fewer than 45% of UT graduates take on debt.

Support for future generations

The system said that the regents’ $35 million campus investment will come from endowment distributions, the Available University Fund and other resources.

Additionally, the regents are investing more in the endowments that support the Promise Plus program in perpetuity, ensuring long-term financial support for future generations.

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.

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