Promise +
-->A Bold Commitment to Debt-Free Education
The University of Texas System is redefining college affordability, ensuring that more students graduate without debt. Through historic investments in financial aid, the UT System Board of Regents is expanding opportunities, easing financial burdens, and strengthening Texas’s economic future.
Promise Plus: A Vision for Affordability
Higher education should be a gateway to opportunity, not a source of lifelong debt. Recognizing this, the UT System Board of Regents launched a groundbreaking financial aid program designed to put a bachelor’s degree within reach for students facing economic challenges.
The initiative began in 2019 with a $167 million endowment at UT Austin, guaranteeing full coverage of tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students from families earning up to $65,000. Partial tuition support was also extended to students from families earning up to $125,000.
The Regents advanced their commitment in 2022 with the launch of “Promise Plus,” a nearly $300 million endowment that extended financial aid to all UT academic institutions. By strengthening existing campus-based aid programs, the initiative ensured that more Texas students could pursue their degrees with reduced financial stress.
Securing the Future
In 2024, the Regents made their most ambitious move to date — raising the eligibility threshold to include families earning up to $100,000. This expansion, set to take effect in fall 2025, is funded through endowment distributions, the Available University Fund, and additional resources. But the Board recognized that students needed relief immediately. To bridge the gap, the Regents allocated $35 million in immediate funding to UT institutions, ensuring that financial support reached students promptly, not just in the future.
The Regents also took steps to secure tuition relief in perpetuity, approving additional investments in financial aid endowments. These efforts reaffirm the UT System’s unwavering commitment to reducing student debt and making UT institutions the most affordable public four-year universities in Texas.
Who Qualifies and Why It Matters
Each UT institution administers its own version of a Promise program, tailoring aid to meet the unique needs of its students and campuses. To qualify, a student must:
be a Texas resident,
enroll full-time in an undergraduate program, and
apply for applicable federal and state financial aid.
With these support programs in place, more Texas students are graduating without the weight of tuition debt, ready to contribute to their communities and the state’s economy.
The UT System isn’t just funding education — it’s investing in the future of Texas and our country.
