University of Northern Colorado junior Cassi Higgins feels a weight has been lifted off her shoulders after the university announced a new financial aid program.
UNC this month announced Tuition Promise, which will cover standard tuition and mandatory fees for all eligible undergraduate students — both new and continuing students — who meet certain criteria. The program begins this fall.
Higgins estimates she’ll save more than $5,600 next semester while taking 13 credits. The current cost of those credits is $5,621.40.
A 21-year-old from Littleton, Higgins is working toward graduating in December. She’s an anthropology major with an interest in working in the cultural aspect of public health. She’s paying for her own education, supplemented by a work-study position in the UNC financial aid office.
“The first thing that I thought was that I must be misinterpreting this,” Higgins said of reading an email on the program about three weeks ago. “It didn’t seem like it would be feasible to cover costs for that many students. It’s definitely been kind of a weight off my shoulders.”
She estimated the tuition break next semester could save her about $3,750 in loans after college. Under the program, Higgins will only pay room and board as a student who lives on campus.
Higgins is also checking into graduate school. Paying less for UNC in her final semester will allow her to build a little more savings for fall 2025 when she wants to begin a graduate program.
“Not having to stress as much about paying for this upcoming semester will help me keep my savings up,” Higgins said.
University officials hope the program will accomplish the same for other students, improving accessibility and affordability in education.
To be eligible, students must have a household adjusted gross income at or below $65,000 or a Student Aid Index (SAI) of 3,000 or less.
The Student Aid Index is used by a college or career school financial aid office to determine the amount of federal student aid a student would receive upon attending. The index comes from information from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form.
“We needed to identify and remove barriers affecting our students and their experience,” UNC Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services Cedric Howard said. “This is creating a clear pathway for access to an affordable, quality degree here at UNC.”
To qualify, a student must also be a Colorado resident or be eligible for the Advancing Students for a Stronger Tomorrow (ASSET) program, which includes students who have been in the state for at least 12 straight months before enrolling and who attended a Colorado high school for at least one year before graduation or were in the state for at least one year before completing a high school equivalency exam.
Tuition Promise students must also complete the FAFSA form or the Colorado Application for State Financial Aid by June 1, be enrolled in at least 12 course credit hours and maintain satisfactory academic progress, which is roughly defined as at least a 2.0 GPA. There might be academic programs with higher standards for satisfactory academic progress than a 2.0, Howard said, but in general, that will be the threshold.
The Tuition Promise was created for a couple reasons. For one, UNC heard from different groups of students about why they either didn’t attend UNC upon admission or opted to leave after attending. Howard said these students mentioned accessibility and affordability to explain their decisions.
Accessibility was also a factor behind UNC creating its Colorado First-Year Admission Guarantee in 2022. Under the first-year guarantee, Colorado residents who have graduated from an in-state high school, have a 3.0 weighted GPA and meet other criteria will receive admission. In the first year of the guarantee, the university saw an 83% increase in the number of students who enrolled, Howard said.
“That is the accessibility part,” he said. “It’s a clear pathway.”
Another reason for the Tuition Promise initiative stemmed from the realization that 18%, or 1,003 undergraduates, enrolled in the fall were eligible for a form of financial aid but did not receive the money because they did not apply for aid.
The university learned from focus groups that the eligible students were confused about the steps they had to take to receive money. The confusion stemmed from the university’s scholarship deadline, students not updating their FAFSA forms after their first year and a lack of awareness about students’ eligibility for internal scholarships because it was a separate process.
UNC is leveraging funding for Tuition Promise from all sources available to support students with financial needs including Pell Grants, internal institution scholarships and founding funding, according to Howard.
Money for the Tuition Promise will be covered by funds that would’ve been used for UNC’s internal scholarships, and what the university would’ve received from the federal government for Pell Grants had the students applied.
Pell Grants are usually awarded to undergraduate students who have exceptional financial need and who have not earned a bachelor’s, graduate or professional degree. Pell Grants are not repaid. Howard said 33%, or 405, of new first-year students who entered the university last fall were eligible for Pell.
Students must fill out a FAFSA to receive a Pell Grant. The amount of the grant varies based on need, school costs and student status, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
UNC estimates it will have the capacity to distribute about $5,836 per student this fall as part of the program. The cost of the Tuition Promise will vary from year to year based on the financial need of incoming students and the number of credit hours taken by eligible students.
UNC plans to evaluate the program after four years to measure its effectiveness. The university will measure the program’s effect on retention and graduation rates to gauge progress.
UNC is not the only college or university in Colorado with a tuition promise program. Eleven of 13 public four-year institutions have some type of institutional promise program covering tuition and fees based on certain income thresholds and student eligibility requirements, according to the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
Private schools Colorado College and Regis University also have programs.
The only two public four-year institutions in Colorado that do not have promise programs are the Colorado School of Mines and CSU Global.
At Colorado Mesa and CU Boulder, for example, the cap is $65,000, like UNC. There is also a Pell eligibility component at CU.
Colorado Mountain College lists two cap levels: $70,000 for dependent students and $50,000 for independent students. Colorado State in Fort Collins has a cap for Pell-eligible students and those who demonstrate a need via institutional aid application. Other students above Pell eligibility may qualify for up to half of tuition and fees.
Angie Paccione, executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, said promise programs began with a statewide initiative in Tennessee. More than 30 states have implemented statewide promise programs within the past decade.
The programs have popped up at Colorado schools within the past five years, Paccione said. Colorado does not have a statewide promise program.
Officials have started the program to address affordability issues, Paccione said.
“Most people choose not to pursue a higher education degree because of the obstacle of cost,” she added. “In this case, it’s if you’re part of the lower-income students in the state, we’re going to cover the cost for the tuition and fees.”
Paccione said tuition and fees are not always the highest cost of going to college. Room and board is a big expense. Transportation and books might also be high-expense items, Paccione said.
The tuition promise programs are not cost-of-attendance programs, which would include tuition, books, fees, room and board and even maybe a laptop. But providing tuition and fees is good coverage and might be especially beneficial for students at commuter schools who choose to live at home.
“Higher education is coming under scrutiny for the value,” Paccione said. “That’s why it’s important for a value proposition that’s communicated by the institution to the community that says, ‘Here’s why you should come to college. Here’s why you want to pursue a bachelor’s degree or higher.’”
