Dear Colleagues,
On Monday, our Board of Trustees approved a bold proposal to offer free tuition to high school graduates and GED® completers — starting with the class of 2024.
This is an incredible opportunity to alleviate one of the biggest barriers our students face. I want to share more about what to expect next and why we proposed such a program.
We know the college-going rates in Central Texas are dropping. Over the past year, 57% of high school seniors in our service area didn’t enroll in postsecondary education after graduating. When we talked to students who applied to ACC but never enrolled, they told us that tuition costs were the overwhelming reason they postponed college.
ACC Free Tuition Overview
We think the ACC Free Tuition pilot program can help. With the board’s approval now in place, ACC will pilot the new program for five years, starting in fall 2024. Here’s what it looks like:
- We’re going to provide FREE tuition to the class of 2024. This includes high school seniors from public, private, charter, and homeschool programs in our service area and GED® completers (after July 1, 2023).
- All subsequent graduating classes for the next five years (through 2029) also will be eligible for the pilot program.
- These students must live in the ACC service area and must have graduated after July 1, 2023.
- Those eligible students will get three years of free tuition and general fees at ACC starting the first fall semester after they graduate high school or earn their GED®.
- They can work toward their associate degree and/or earn a workforce credential or certification.
- Those same students are also eligible for an additional two years of free tuition at ACC if they choose to continue with us in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree from the college. That makes for a total of five years of free tuition at ACC.
- Students in the ACC Free Tuition pilot program can still apply for additional financial aid and scholarships.
- Students can use their financial aid and scholarship awards to help support other college and life expenses; including textbooks, class fees, childcare, food, and housing.
- Students not in the taxing district will still be responsible for the out-of-district fee.
Getting Started
This is the first step in our big journey to make tuition free for every student. We selected this cohort for the pilot program because our data tells us it’s a promising group to begin with. We know approximately how many students to expect so we can estimate the cost to the college. We also know this is a group of students who are disappearing from college at rapid rates. We need to do something to make a change.
We know our current students face the same challenges, though. And, we’re thinking about them too. Up next, we’re going to explore opportunities to extend tuition relief to our current students. We’ll know more about what that looks like in the coming weeks and months.
And, as you’re aware, we’re also discussing free tuition for the dependents of our employees. Since this would be considered a new employee benefit, it will be part of our budget process. The board reviews our annual budget over the summer months and votes on it by August.
Funding
Some of you may be wondering how we’re paying for this pilot program. The simple answer is, that tuition and fees make up a small part of our annual budget. Currently, the tuition revenue for all direct-to-college high school graduates represents about four percent of the college’s total budget. We estimated the cost for the pilot program in its first year to be approximately $7 million. So, we are able to pay for this program in our existing budget.
To grow this pilot and expand it to future student groups, we’re going to rely heavily upon our partnerships in the community. The college is aggressively expanding its development efforts to encourage more corporate, community, and philanthropic partners to invest in the college and the success of our students.
Resources
It took a lot of work to get here, and I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who helped make this program a reality — from our Board of Trustees who called on us to dig deep and prove our due diligence — to our faculty and staff who did the research, planning, and communication.
You can learn more about the planning at austincc.edu/freetuitionplan, and you can explore all the details about the ACC Free Tuition pilot program at austincc.edu/freetuition. You will likely get questions from students and families. Please encourage them to visit these sites for more information and let them know there is a form they can submit if they have more questions. We have teams dedicated to these channels who can connect them with the right answers. The Office of College Relations & Marketing (OCRM) also is monitoring our district social media channels to respond to comments and provide accurate information. To ensure there is no misinformation, OCRM is the approved office responsible for responding on these channels.
I believe in this college, in the people who are here, and in our students. ACC is going to be a model for other colleges in the nation. I thank you for being a part of this journey, and I look forward to taking these next steps together.
This is one way we are truly working — together — to love our students to success.
Much love,
russell
Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart
Chancellor
Austin Community College District
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