AUSTIN -- With an eye toward making college more affordable for economically disadvantaged Texans, The University of Texas System’s academic institutions are establishing guaranteed financial aid programs for students who come from low-income families.
Although eligibility and criteria vary somewhat by campus, the programs effectively guarantee qualifying students that their tuition and mandatory fees will be covered so long as they perform well in their studies and graduate on time. (See program details in “background materials” for specific information on each program).
Most of the guaranteed financial aid programs will begin this fall and apply primarily to incoming freshmen who come from Texas households which earn fewer than $25,000 annually. Three campuses have extended the guaranteed financial aid initiative to eligible students regardless of their class standing.
UT Arlington and UT Dallas were the most recent academic institutions to announce guaranteed financial aid programs, meaning all nine academic institutions in the UT System will have programs available beginning in Fall 2007. UT Arlington will offer its program, called the Maverick Promise, to students who take as few as six hours per semester. UT Dallas’ program is called the UT Dallas Tuition Promise.
“This demonstrates the UT System’s continued commitment to enhance higher education opportunities for financially disadvantaged Texans, and sends a clear message to deserving students that their socio-economic status shouldn’t be a barrier to their college aspirations,” UT System Chancellor Mark G. Yudof said. “We believe these programs will not only get more students into college, but provide them with the incentives to make good grades and graduate on time,” Yudof added.
The programs could have a profound impact at campuses that serve the state’s most impoverished regions.
At UT Pan American in Edinburg, it is possible that as many as one-half of the student population may meet the financial qualifications for the program, said Elaine Rivera, the university’s director of financial aid.
She expects the initiative, known there as UTPAdvantage, to have a positive impact on the college graduation rate for the Rio Grande Valley, which has a degree attainment rate of about 11 percent – well below the state average of 20 percent.
“This has the potential to change the lives of countless families in the Rio Grande Valley,” Rivera said.
At UT El Paso, where the UTEP Promise launched in the Fall 2006 semester, about 600 students took advantage of the program.
And at UT San Antonio, where the average cost of tuition and mandatory fees hovers at about $6,000 per year for a total of 30 semester hours, the program also includes a work-study component that allows participants to earn additional money to offset the costs of room and board.
The UTSAccess program, as it is known, will also provide support programs such as heightened academic advising, financial aid counseling and tutoring to help students handle the program requirements and graduate on time.
“Access to higher education just got easier for cash-strapped families who want to send their children to UTSA,” President Ricardo Romo said. “This not only helps the students and families that we serve; it adds to the vitality of Texas’ future workforce – and everyone benefits from that.”
At UT Tyler, that campus created the Pathway to Success Program, which allows incoming freshmen from households earning $25,000 or less to participate as long as they complete a minimum 12 semester credit hours in the fall and spring semesters (plus six more in the summer) and maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average.
UT Permian Basin offers the UTPB Promise financial aid program and UT Brownsville/TSC plans to announce its program this month.
The first campus to start such a program was The University of Texas at Austin. Since 2003, eligible students there have had all increases in flat-rate tuition covered by the program if they come from households that earn up to $40,000 per year and, on average, eligible students have had all their flat-rate tuition paid by financial aid.
To become eligible for any of the programs, students must be Texas residents and apply for federal financial aid by the March 31 deadline. Once qualified, they must fulfill academic requirements set forth by each campus and graduate on time.
The programs will be funded through a mix of federal, state, institutional and private sources. Although many of the qualifying students already would’ve qualified for federal and state aid, each institution has promised to fill in the gaps to cover the entire cost of tuition and fees.
Students who come from families that earn more than the limit necessary to qualify for the program are also encouraged to apply for federal financial aid by the March 31 deadline to help reduce their college costs.
Although they may not qualify for the program, they still could qualify for significant financial aid. To find out how much aid you may qualify for, visit the UT System’s TexasCollegeMoney.org Web site. For more information about each campus program, please visit the respective institutions’ Web site.
Serving the educational and health care needs of Texans for more than 125 years, the UT System is one of the nation's largest higher education systems with 15 campuses – including nine academic and six health institutions – and an annual operating budget of $10 billion (FY 2007). Student enrollment exceeded 190,000 in the 2006 academic year. The UT System confers one-third of the state's undergraduate degrees and educates three-fourths of Texas health care professionals. With more than 76,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in Texas.
