More details on $300 million UT endowment

TYLER — University of Texas officials visit Tyler to share details about a recently-announced $300 million endowment for seven institutions to help students pay for college. As far as what it means locally, Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife says “perpetually, ongoing, a million dollars a year in additional tuition money, scholarship money, to the University of Texas at Tyler — which means anyone with an adjusted gross income of $80,000 or less can go to (the) University of Texas at Tyler with their tuition and fees covered…We supplement all the other grants that are out there. Also…we think this means about an additional 200 students will now be able to attend the University of Texas at Tyler and won’t have an issue with financial problems getting in.”

Eltife says it’s about fighting student debt. He tells KTBB, “We’re trying to tackle the student debt on the front end by lowering the cost of tuition. We’re doing this across all our institutions across the state to make tuition affordable for the students of Texas.” The new program is known as Promise Plus. Officials say it will expand UT Tyler’s Reach Higher Scholarship program, renamed Patriot Promise in future academic years.