The University of Northern Colorado has a new initiative to reduce the financial burden of attending college. Starting next school year, the UNC Tuition Promise program will cover tuition and fees for full-time, in-state students from low-income households who also meet other requirements.
"The UNC Tuition Promise exemplifies UNC’s commitment to being 'students irst,'” UNC President Andy Feinstein said in a recent press release. “At UNC, we strive to eliminate barriers and offer students an affordable path to earning a degree, bettering their lives and their communities, and contributing to the state of Colorado.”
Students who qualify for the program will receive funding for standard tuition and mandatory fees for up to 16 credits, or a maximum of $5,836, per semester. The financial support will increase as the cost of attendance goes up. Some of the eligibility requirements for students include filing a FASFA or CAFSA on time, enrolling in 12 or more credits, and being a recipient of the Colorado Opportunity Fund, which applies per-credit funding from the state to help offset tuition.
“It's a way for us to be able to help students see themselves here at UNC in obtaining a four-year degree,” said Pete Lien, associate vice president for enrollment services. “Being a four-year regional public (university), right, in the state of Colorado, we have a responsibility to be accessible and affordable to our resident students. And that's where this focus is really coming from.”
The UNC Tuition Promise program will benefit roughly 1,000 current undergraduates as well as all incoming students who qualify. Last fall, UNC launched the Colorado First-Year Admissions Guarantee, which guarantees admission to eligible Colorado high school students and provides more clarity around the admissions process.
The two programs go hand-in-hand to address accessibility and affordability, said Lien.
“If you're so inaccessible because your admission standards are unobtainable, you're not creating access, right? And if you are accessible, but you're so expensive that students can't afford to be there, then you're not helping, right? You're really creating barriers,” he said. “I think we wanted to kind of take those walls down by implementing these programs.”
