Texas colleges go big on student financial aid
UT’s move to support low-income students builds on idea others started a decade ago
Paying for college was a major worry for Houston student Carlos Casia. His mother, a housekeeper, was raising him and his sister as a single parent, and he didn’t think there would be enough money for his tuition.
“I was already planning to work two jobs,” Casia, 20, said.
But during his senior year of high school, he learned about the Gator Pledge at the University of Houston-Downtown — the college’s commitment to cover full tuition and fees for Texas undergraduates whose families had annual household incomes of $45,000 or less. That same program, which has been expanded to include incomes up to $50,000 this fall, would make it possible for Casia, now a rising sophomore accounting major, to begin his college career.
“When I got it, I was overwhelmed,” said Casia, adding that his mother was moved to tears when she learned he had received full tuition. It was a relief for them both.
Like UHD, the University of Texas at Austin recently expanded a similar pledge using a $160 million tuition endowment to cover tu
ition and fees for 8,600 instate undergraduates whose annual household family incomes are $65,000 or less.
“College affordability is one of the most core issues facing families of middle and low income, and being able to provide this financial support will enable more students to come to UT-Austin and get a high-quality degree from UT and go out and serve their community,” UTAustin President Gregory Fenves said in a UT System Board of Regents meeting earlier this month.
But the concept is not new.
More than a dozen universities throughout the state offer similar tuition guarantees or promises that serve low- and middle-income students from Texas — many of which have been around for nearly a decade.
Colleges such as the University of Houston, Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University in College Station were some of the earliest; each launched their programs more than 10 years ago and still grant tuition and fees to students whose family household incomes are no greater than $50,000, $25,000 and $60,000, respectively.
Lamar University in Beaumont and Sam Houston State University offer aid to students whose family income is $25,000 or less. And last year, the private Rice University announced what is likely the state’s most generous pledge to its rough estimate of 7,000 students and incoming freshmen for this fall.
The Rice Investment covers tuition, fees and room and board for students whose families make below $65,000; full-tuition scholarships and grants to eligible students whose annual family incomes fall between $65,000 and $130,000; and at least half tuition for those whose family income falls between $130,000 and $200,000.
‘A weight lifted’
All tuition guarantee programs require students to be Texas residents, firsttime undergraduates, firsttime transfer students or incoming freshmen, often with a minimum GPA to qualify. Students are also required to fill out the federal student aid application known as FAFSA, which allows universities to see which students are eligible and helps gauge how much aid a student will need after federal Pell Grants and need-based aid, such as the the TEXAS Grant, have been applied.
These “last dollar plans” will then fill the gap — covering the remaining amount of tuition and fees, according to Jessica Thompson, director of policy and planning for the Institute for College Access and Success.
Destiny Delacruz, an 18year-old sophomore at the University of Houston, has benefited from such programs, receiving full tuition and fees under UH’s Cougar Promise, which requires students to have a family income of $50,000 or less and to maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA. Delacruz, whose mother is a single parent, said it has been reassuring.
“I’m getting my college paid for, and it’s a weight lifted off my mom’s plate because she doesn’t have to worry about … taking away from bills,” Delacruz said.
“As long as I’m striving to continue to get good grades, it’s going to be covered,” she said. “That’s very promising. It’s something to be proud of. Not everybody could have that opportunity. I’m very happy and proud that UH provides this.”
Texas A&M University President Michael Young said universities have been working hard on such programs for years — with A&M being one of the first within the state to establish a tuition guarantee. The Aggie Assurance program has offered free tuition and fees for students with annual household income of $60,000 or less since 2008 and served more than 6,000 students last year.
“We’re delighted that Rice and UT in particular are following our lead,” he said.
Young said the college landscape’s current focus on low- and middle-income students comes as state funding for higher ed has decreased because the government is dealing with the increasing demand and costs of health care, public safety and transportation, along with the desire to keep taxes low.
Meanwhile, the value of education has increased — with researchers noting how a college education can positively impact a student’s income and welfare, as well as the well-being and trajectory of their family and children, he said.
“Every time I graduate 15,000 students, it’s also a huge savings for the state, and allows the state to deploy revenue in other places,” Young said.
Raymund A. Paredes, the commissioner of higher education, said in a statement that he applauds any initiative that improves affordability and access to Texas public higher education, especially since an estimated 60 percent of high school students in the state are poor. Such efforts, he wrote, will help achieve the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s goals to equip 60 percent of adults between the ages of 25 and 34 with a college degree by 2030.
Some similar programs, however, have come and gone — due to lack of funding and confusing marketing.
In 2008, UT-Arlington offered the Maverick Promise, a pledge to cover tuition and fees for students from families with income less than $65,000, but it ended in 2015 after funding decreased and students became confused with how it worked, according to the university’s student newspaper, the Shorthorn.
Tip of the iceberg
But the free tuition and fees model for low-income students draws some criticism from experts in terms of how innovative they really are when it comes to college affordability.
Such “last dollar programs” have increased since the late 1990s, Thompson said. But many low-income students are already getting a majority of their tuition and fees covered by state and federal government aid, meaning the university programs that intend to offer such coverage aren’t contributing much, she said.
To break it down: The average cost of college tuition for in-state students in Texas was $10,584 during the 2017-2018 school year, according to CollegeCalc, an online source that estimates college costs. Eligible Texas students can receive a maximum of $6,195 for the Pell Grant and $9,792 for the TEXAS Grant during the upcoming school year, totaling nearly $16,000 in maximum funds. In the best-case scenario, the combination of aid from federal and Texas government could cover a student’s tuition in full and then some, without a university’s help.
“In some ways these (programs) are marketing … what the state and local government” are already doing, Thompson added. And for many low-income students, tuition is just the tip of the iceberg.
While a student’s tuition could be fully covered by grants if given the maximum amount, only $5,403 of their other costs, including room and board, transportation and food would be covered by aid for the entire year.
“What that often means is these premises are a bit regressive,” Thompson said. “What (low-income students) struggle with is the cost of living.”
The cost of living and non-tuition-related expenses at a public college such as Texas A&M or UT-Austin could cost upward of $17,000, much of which would not be covered in financial aid packages or tuition guarantees. This means lower-income students are still having to borrow more money than their higher-income peers to foot the full costs of college, Thompson said.
That’s not to say that the aid is not a relief or that the marketing of such programs hasn’t helped communicate broadly that college is possible for students from various backgrounds, Thompson said. Yet it’s important to put such programs in context and convey that “it’s not a true solution for college affordability.”
Steve Head, chancellor of Lone Star College, said that they have been discussing free tuition since President Barack Obama’s administration introduced America’s College Promise, a program that would help lower-income students with tuition, fees and books.
“Low-income students usually get enough Pell Grants to pay for their tuition fees and books and then when you start getting into middle class, average income $40,000 or $65,000, that’s when you see some problems. That’s when you see little financial aid,” Head said.
Head said they launched Lone Star College’s Promise in hopes of reaching the Hispanic community and supplementing students’ aid in hopes of alleviating some of the financial stressors that lead to dropping out.
Additional options
Some colleges are considering other options.
Houston Community College announced this month that it would offer free college degrees to recent high school graduates under Eagle Promise. The HCC program, for students who don’t have state or federal grants, will cover tuition and fees as well as provide a book allowance of up to $500.
Rice University, in particular, has attempted to provide aid beyond just tuition with its free tuition model, the Rice Investment.
“What we wanted to do was really remove the stresses for lower income families, and that meant much more than no tuition, frankly,” said Rice University President David Leebron. The university has also sought to think differently of middle-income students and how to effectively and transparently articulate its offerings to students and their families.
“It’s generosity and clarity that you need to bring together,” he added.
“The more that (the university) provides sources to lower and middle income, the better off it is for our city, state and our nation. We’re happy to build on what others have done and we’re happy to be innovators,” Leebron said. “I’m optimistic about how higher ed will continue to provide for all segments of our society.”