CARBONDALE (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and Edwardsville is offering free tuition to students from lower-income families.
New undergraduate students from Illinois with family incomes below $63,575 can attend Southern Illinois University tuition-free beginning fall 2021.
SIU President Dan Mahony said eligible students must first apply for all eligible state and federal financial aid, which they qualify, including federal Pell grants, state Monetary Award Program grants and other institutional aid. The university will cover the outstanding balance.
“This really will provide an opportunity for students from lower-income families to be able to afford to go to college,” Mahony told the board. "So again, this is very much an access issue, and I applaud financialers and their staff for working for working so well on developing this program."
Students will still be responsible for housing, meals, course fees, books and supplies.
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The initiative will cover eight semesters of continuous enrollment. Participants must maintain satisfactory academic progress in order for the program to be renewed. In addition to the income restriction, students must have assets less than $50,000 based on a submitted Free Application for Student AID, or FAFSA; be an Illinois resident who attended an Illinois high school; apply for admission by the priority deadline of March 1; and enroll in a baccalaureate degree program.
SIU Carbondale Chancellor Austin Lane called it a “game changer.”
"It gives me goosebumps to know what we just did with the commitment that was announced, so that's a great thing," Lane said.
In a news release following the announcement to the board, Mahony noted a 2017 report by the Institute for Higher Education Policy that found students from lower income backgrounds could only afford a small fraction of the 2,000 colleges included in the study.
“A student’s ZIP code or economic status should not prevent them from achieving their goal of obtaining a college degree,” he said.
Lane said he expects several hundred new students on each campus to be eligible for the program next year.