Some Texas colleges keeping mum about $1,000 tuition rebates
As student debt continues to rise, an untold number of graduates of Texas public universities are missing out on a tuition rebate of up to $1,000 from the state.
Since 1997, the universities have been required to offer the rebate to students who earn their bachelor’s degrees within four years and do not exceed the minimum credit hours for their major, among
other stipulations. While each of the 37 public universities is required to offer the rebates, not all are equal in how they advertise the program to students or when the cutoff date is for applications. At some schools, how much notification you get about the tuition rebate
depends on your major. The result is that while some universities automatically apply for the rebates on behalf of eligi-
ble grads, at other schools many graduates have no idea it exists.
Arielle Sarah, a Texas State University alumna who graduated in the spring of 2015, said she never heard of the rebate program and didn’t remember any mention of it at freshman orientation, which is when Texas State notifies its undergrads.
“It would have been nice to have automatically been signed up for it ... or at least by senior year, you know when you start having to visit your guidance counselors, and let them tell students about it,” Sarah said. “I probably would have paid back my loans — or at least it would have helped start me off when I had to start paying them off.”
According to the Texas State University Tuition Rebate Information page, students must apply for the rebate “no sooner than the first day of the semester in which you graduate and no later than 60 days after graduation.”
The University of Texas, on the other hand, requires students to apply before the official date of graduation or risk being ineligible.
Some universities, such as Stephen F. Austin and Midwestern State University, will automatically apply for students to be in the tuition The University of Texas, on the other hand, requires students to apply before the official date of graduation or risk being ineligible. rebate program when they apply for graduation. Others, like Texas A&M University, require students to submit their applications individually.
Though some universities are better at promoting the program than others, it does not appear financial gain is a motivating factor in how they notify students.
Through Legislative Appropriations Requests, public universities estimate tuition rebates and other expenses before each legislative session.
According to appropriations requests dating to 2010, most major public universities significantly underestimated how much money they handed out for the tuition rebates. That left the universities on the hook for the balance, some by as much as $120,000, records show.
However, while the majority underbudgeted in 2015, Texas A&M and the University of North Texas overbudgeted for 2016 — A&M ended up with a $96,000 surplus, and UNT had $20,915.
According to UT spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon, any leftover funds are either reserved for future rebate payouts or are available for other priorities.
In addition to the $1,000 rebate program, UT offers a $2,500 rebate for those enrolled in the Longhorn Fixed Tuition Program, which has similar requirements.
While students are required to apply individually at UT, the university reports awarding rebates to 3,756 students during the past five years — more than any other university that responded to the American-Statesman’s information requests.
Hunter Howard, a Texas Tech University alumnus who graduated in the spring of 2017, said he applied for the reimbursement and then forgot about it but was pleasantly surprised when the payment appeared in his bank account one morning.
“People don’t realize how much $1,000 means to postgrads,” Howard said. “$1,000 may not seem like a lot of money to some people, but to a student with student loans, that’s almost a couple months of payments. I can’t tell you how nice it was to wake up and see that in my account.”