TYLER, TX (EAST TEXAS NEWS) – A newly approved endowment by the UT System Board of Regents will help reduce the cost of higher education for college students and their families across UT institutions, including UT Tyler.
The UT System said the $300 million gift, known as the Promise Plus program, will greatly expand tuition assistance programs at seven UT institutions.
According to a press release, UT Tyler’s tuition assistance program currently covers tuition for first-year students whose families earn less than $80,000. It is anticipated that the Promise Plus endowment, which will make annual distributions to the institutions, will generate about $1 million for UT Tyler this year, making it comparable to a $22 million endowment. This will help UT Tyler expand the scholarship program to all incoming college students, enabling nearly 200 more students to have their entire tuition covered. In future academic years, the scholarship program will be named Patriot Promise in honor of the university’s athletic teams, the Patriots.
In 2019, the Board of Regents created a $167 million endowment to support UT Austin students. At that time, Board President Kevin P. Eltife said that he and the Board were committed to developing similar programs for all UT academic institutions.
“With the support of educational, business, civic, and health care communities, UT Tyler has recently achieved significant progress in its mission to transform lives, and this investment adds to that momentum,” Eltife said. “We are doing everything within our power to provide affordable and accessible education to our students.”
The Promise Plus endowment will grow in value over time, increasing the allocation to UT Tyler and benefiting more students year after year.
“This will be a wonderful addition to UT Tyler’s tuition assistance program and will help remove the barriers that prevent many Texas families from accessing a high-quality education,” said the UT System Chancellor, James B. Milliken. “Financial challenges should never stand in the way of any student who wants to earn a UT degree, and I am grateful to the Board of Regents for this new and important investment in our students.”
Financing from the Board of Regents is playing a central role in UT Tyler’s trajectory, said UT Tyler President Kirk Calhoun.
“We are tremendously grateful for the continued support for UT Tyler students,” Calhoun said. “Expanding the Reach Higher Scholarship, which we will rename Patriot Promise and expand to transfer students from our community college partners, deepens our impact and service across East Texas and beyond.”
The Promise Plus endowment funds will add to the more than $232 million the Board of Regents has invested in UT Tyler and the UT Health Science Center at Tyler over the past decade to improve teaching, learning, and research opportunities and to help establish the region’s first medical school.
Last year, the Regents approved the unification of UT Tyler and the UT Health Science Center at Tyler to create a single, integrated university to better serve East Texas residents and to give students and faculty the opportunity to collaborate and benefit from the combined resources and talents of both institutions. UT Tyler plans to open the system’s seventh medical school in 2023 to improve patient access to care, expand the physician workforce in East Texas, and provide an economic boost to the region.
Over the past decade, the Regents have contributed more than $185 million to facilities to support academic and medical education and research on UT Tyler campuses, including:
- Construction of the Soules College of Business and Technology Building to accommodate enrollment growth.
- Construction of a Residency Teaching Center and Graduate Medical Education and a Health Sciences and Advanced Nursing Complex to accelerate education and high-quality medical care.
- An addition to the R. Don Cowan Fine Arts and Performing Arts Center to provide space for a large band hall, a choir rehearsal room, multiple one-on-one teaching studios, practice cubicles, faculty offices, and secure storage space.
- Renovation and expansion of the engineering and sciences facilities to provide classrooms and laboratories for undergraduate students.
- Construction of the Community Health and Rural Health School to provide classrooms, faculty offices, and collaborative education space.
- Completion of the second and third floors of the Academic Center to house specialized health clinics, classrooms, meeting space, and the region’s only medical library.
The press release notes that the Regents have provided nearly $34 million to fund additional major repairs and equipment upgrades and the addition of new technology and improvements to provide critical campus infrastructure. The Regents have also allocated more than $12 million over the last decade to recruit and retain 24 notable UT Tyler faculty members through the successful STARs program (Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention). Historically, STAR beneficiaries have generated additional research grants and support for UT Tyler that total more than four times the Regents’ initial investment. The UT System also counts on the Legislature’s full support through its approval of $177 million in capital construction assistance (formerly known as Tuition Revenue Bonds) for the STEM Building, the Science Building,
The funds for the Promise Plus endowment were generated by a series of prudent investments by UT System financial officers that produced returns higher than expected in the last fiscal year.
Full-time Texas resident undergraduates who qualify for need-based aid will be eligible to receive Promise Plus funds, which will be used to supplement federal and state aid, such as Pell Grants and TEXAS Grants.
The other institutions that will benefit from the UT System’s new Promise Plus endowment include UT Arlington, UT Dallas, UT El Paso, UT Permian Basin, UT Rio Grande Valley, and UT San Antonio.
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