AUSTIN, Texas — The chancellor of Austin Community College (ACC) has a bold suggestion to help eliminate barriers to higher education: free tuition.
At a board of trustees meeting Monday night, Chancellor Russell Lowery-Hart floated a proposal that the college offer free tuition to this year's class of high school seniors. After that, the goal would be to eventually scale the program to offer free schooling to anyone.
“This will be a really powerful project for ACC and our community,” Dr. Lowery-Hart said. “Students have told us the affordability of college and the subsequent debt they could incur is keeping them away.”
ACC said the proposal is a "first dollar" program, meaning the funds from the district would be the first dollars a student would receive to help cover tuition costs. Students could still apply for Pell grants, financial aid and scholarships to get more financial support to help cover other expenses like housing, textbooks and more.
Lowery-Hart's proposal tasks ACC with covering up to three years of tuition to promote full-time enrollment and degree completion.
Tuition at ACC is currently charged per credit. For 15 credit hours, in-district students pay $1,275 and out-of-district students – or those who live in Texas but outside ACC's district – pay $4,290.
The chancellor's proposal would also offer free tuition for Texas graduating high school seniors who live outside ACC's service area. Those students would, however, be responsible for covering the out-of-district $201 fee per credit hour.
“The cost of going to a university has exploded and fundamentally priced out middle-class families and families living in the warzone of poverty. This program makes a bachelor's degree affordable for families,” Lower-Hart said. “What I am most excited about is that, with this application, a student can come to ACC, earn their associate degree, stay, and get one of the four bachelor’s degrees ACC offers for little to no cost. That is going to change lives.”
ACC said funds for the proposed program are already available within the college's annual budget.
The state appropriations received through House Bill 8 would be used to help fund college programs and expenses, which will ultimately free up dollars to help cover the costs of tuition for these students," ACC said in a press release.
Lowery-Hart expects to have a concrete proposal before the ACC board at its next meeting in February. If that happens, the board would vote on it in March.