AUSTIN, Texas — The Board of Trustees at Austin Community College (ACC) has approved its free tuition pilot program, also known as the College Affordability Plan.
The program aims to take a massive burden off students and families in Central Texas. ACC planned to expand its pilot program to offer free tuition to more local students.
ACC leaders added and approved two amendments to the proposal. One amendment changes the length of the pilot program from 10 to five years, meaning the board will review the program again in 2029. The second amendment asks students to sign an agreement letter acknowledging the responsibility of understanding the resources available.
ACC also approved tuition and free rates for the following year, making it the 11th straight year those have remained unchanged for students.
The board approved the item with one trustee abstaining from the vote to provide more support to current students. The board also wants to reconsider how it will help current students with a similar pilot program.
How will the program work?
"If you're in our service area, you would not have to pay tuition and most fees," Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, the chancellor at ACC, said.
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Lowery-Hart told KVUE that ACC is offering free tuition for high school, homeschool, GED and charter school grads in the Central Texas area.
"The cost of tuition and fees was the No. 1 reason 58% of our students said they weren't enrolling – because they couldn't afford it," Lowery-Hart said.
Lowery-Hart also said the system has funding to make this a reality.
"The state changed the funding model for community colleges, and as a result of that, ACC got an additional $7 million," Lowery-Hart said.