The University of Texas at Tyler and UT San Antonio will pay full tuition and fees beginning next fall for incoming freshmen whose families make less than $25,000 a year, officials have announced. Details about UT Tyler's proposal won't be available until next week, but UTSA's school and education officials said its UTSAccess program should encourage poor students to choose college and help bolster the national economy by creating more middle-class workers. 

"There is a sizable number of families that are almost terrified by the idea of loans," UTSA President Ricardo Romo said. "This helps them ease that fear of getting into debt because they know it is pretty much going to be covered here."

The UTSA offer includes a work-study job on campus for 10 to 12 hours per week to help cover living expenses. Participating students must take 30 credit hours per year and maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average.

Lisa Blazer, head of UTSA's financial aid office, said about 500 students are expected in the program next year. The university will cover the students' tuition with existing federal Pell grants and state aid, and will use $600,000 to $800,000 in institutional scholarships, she said.

Students will likely need some federal loans to pay for room and board, Blazer said.

UTSA joins private and public universities across the country adopting programs aimed at increasing access for the poor to higher education.

Jamie Merisotis, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Higher Education Policy, said it makes sense for such programs to target the poorest students.

"A college education is no longer a nice idea, it is a necessary idea," Merisotis said. "The low-income population is the fastest-growing population in the country. We are going to depend on those populations to drive our work force in the future."

At UTSA, participating students are eligible for only four years and must be enrolled as full-time students.

Romo said he hopes this encourages students to graduate on time. Currently, about 9 percent of the university's students graduate in four years and 30 percent in six years.

The program will include tutoring, financial aid counseling, money management and academic counseling, officials said.

According to information from the Austin American-Statesman, UT-Odessa Permian Basin and UT-El Paso will offer similar programs.