Any undergraduate student who lives in Texas full time — and whose families have an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less — will get their tuition covered completely at University of Texas schools. (Boy, I wish that program was in place 16 years ago.)
The board formally voted to approve the financial aid on Thursday morning. “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,” Kevin P. Eltife, chairman of the Board of Regents, said in a press release.
According to the Texas Comptroller’s Office, in 2019, only 29% of households in the state earned more than $100,000 per year. That’s a lot of eligible Texans in a state with roughly 30 million people.
In addition to the financial aid help in Fall 2025, the board also directed additional money into its endowments to support future free tuition, “ensuring the commitment of tuition relief in perpetuity,” meaning this program will continue indefinitely.
Oddly, Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison of Midlothian responded poorly to this obviously great news, telling The Dallas Morning News he believed the move was an “outrageous abuse of power” and a “liberal, regressive, and possibly unconstitutional proposal.”
To be clear, the entire board was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott (a Republican and staunch supporter of conservative values). Eltife also formerly represented Tyler in the state senate as a Republican.
Read more at The Dallas Morning News.
