(By Tate Miller/The Center Square) – The University of Texas System may soon offer “tuition free education” to students whose families make less than $100,000 a year, a program some are calling “a socialist entitlement.”

“The University of Texas System Board of Regents’ Academic Affairs Committee gave preliminary approval to provide UT undergraduates attending any of its nine academic institutions, whose families have an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $100,000 or less, with tuition free education, beginning next fall,” the UT System announced in a news release.

This means that no “tuition or mandatory fees” will be charged to qualifying students.

To qualify, students “must be Texas residents, enroll full-time in undergraduate programs, and apply for applicable federal and state financial aid,” as stated in the news release.

“To be in a position to make sure our students can attend a UT institution without accruing more debt is very important to all of us,” chairman of the System’s Board of Regents Kevin P. Eltife said in the news release.

“As long as we are here, we will continue our work to provide an affordable, accessible education to all who choose to attend a UT institution,” Eltife said.

“Across UT institutions, enrollment is growing, and student debt is declining, indicating success in both access and affordability,” UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken said in the news release.

“That’s a rare trend in American higher education, and I’m proud the UT System is in a position to be a leader,” Milliken said.

Neither UT System’s Office of the Board of Regents nor Office of the Chancellor responded to The Center Square’s two requests for comment.

Visiting fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy Adam Kissel told The Center Square that the UT System’s tuition free education program “is a socialist entitlement.”

“The income threshold is far above median household income in Texas,” Kissel said.

“UT System institutions outside Austin have very high acceptance rates (100% at UTEP) but low graduation rates,” Kissel told The Center Square, linking to the study he referred to.

According to Kissel, this means that “the UT System should be doing the opposite of increasing access, instead focusing on the students already in the system and only admitting students who are likely to graduate.”

“The UT System is massively distorting incentives. Thousands of students who are not cut out for college are being incentivized to go anyway,” Kissel said. “They will lose as many as six years of full-time employment and then exit without degrees, while their peers have gone on to fulfilling lives in a trade or the military or building a family.”

“Increasing college access has come with a huge humanitarian cost,” Kissel said. “Universities should not admit thousands of students and then fail to provide the support they need to graduate, all on the backs of Texas taxpayers.”

“At the same time, Texas universities are complaining that they need more money, they are wantonly spending what they have on a misguided tuition entitlement program,” Kissel said. “This contradiction is playing badly with Texas legislators.”

UT System’s tuition free education will be offered through the Promise Plus endowment.

“In 2019, the [Board of] Regents established a $167 million endowment at UT Austin to completely cover tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate students from families with an AGI of up to $65,000, and with support to alleviate much of tuition costs for families earning up to $125,000,” the System’s news release stated.

“In 2022, the Regents doubled down with a second endowment of almost $300 million – collectively called “Promise Plus” – to extend the program to all UT academic institutions,” according to the news release.

The board’s recent vote moves the baseline for Promise Plus to $100,000, as stated in the news release.