The University of Texas at Austin Provides Free College Plan

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The University of Texas at Austin announced that it will provide free tuition for all in-state students whose families earn less than $65,000 a year.

The funding comes from a new $160 million endowment that the the University of Texas System’s Board of Regents voted to establish from the state’s Permanent University Fund (which includes money from oil and gas royalties earned from state-owned land), and should start benefiting students as soon as the fall 2020 semester, the college announced in a statement.

The new endowment, which will expand UT Austin’s Texas Advance Commitment program, will begin in Fall 2020  and is expected to benefit 8,600 undergraduates per year with full tuition and 5,700 students with assured tuition support

The median household income in Texas was $57,051 between 2013 and 2017, according to recentU.S. Census data. At the moment, the new tuition assistance would only apply to students at the University of Texas at Austin.

“Recognizing both the need for improved access to higher education and the high value of a UT Austin degree, we are dedicating a distribution from the Permanent University Fund to establish an endowment that will directly benefit students and make their degrees more affordable,” Kevin Eltife, chairman of the University of Texas System Board of Regents, and a UT Austin alum, said in a statement.

“This will benefit students of our great state for years to come,” he added.

“There is no greater engine of social and economic mobility than a college degree, and this initiative ensures that more Texans will benefit from a high-quality UT Austin education. The use of Permanent University Funds to invest directly in students demonstrates the strong commitment of the Board of Regents and UT Austin to the values of public higher education,” Chancellor James B. Milliken said.

The new endowment will “completely cover tuition and fees for students from families that earn up to $65,000 a year who have financial need,” according to school’s website. In addition, it will also provide tuition support to students who have financial need from families with incomes of up to $125,000.