How One College Is Rethinking Free Tuition

For many students, the cost of college extends beyond tuition. Expenses such as childcare, transportation, food and housing can derail educational plans long before a degree is earned. Austin Community College is tackling those barriers through a tuition-free model paired with wraparound student supports.

The public two-year college in central Texas launched its Free Tuition Pilot Program in 2024 to reduce financial barriers and reverse declining enrollment. The program covers tuition for eligible students living within ACC’s tax-base district who enroll after graduating from high school or earning a Texas GED. Participants receive up to three years of free tuition for credit-bearing coursework and up to five years if they pursue a bachelor’s degree at the college.

Two years after its launch, the program has contributed to a 59 percent increase in ACC’s overall enrollment, which grew from 3,461 students in fall 2023 to 5,504 students in fall 2025. College leaders said the initiative reversed a decade-long enrollment decline and brought enrollment levels to their highest point since 2011.

The program also appears to be influencing how students engage with the college once they enroll. In fall 2025, 51 percent of free-tuition students attended full time, compared with 28 percent of the overall student population. College leaders said the institution’s overall full-time enrollment rate had remained largely unchanged for nearly two decades before increasing from 24 percent over the past two years.

ACC chancellor Russell Lowery-Hart said the program differs in part because of its first-dollar structure. Unlike many free-tuition programs, which are last-dollar, ACC’s model covers tuition and general fees before financial aid is applied. That allows eligible students to use need-based grants and scholarships to help pay for expenses such as housing, transportation, food and other living costs.

ACC has also invested in a network of wraparound supports—including childcare assistance, food access, emergency aid, transportation assistance and mental health services—that help students persist once they enroll, Lowery-Hart said.

“When we can remove basic-needs barriers and make college affordable, students are much more likely to complete,” he said. “And when you add free tuition on top of that, those two things become the most significant predictors of whether students will be successful.”

Removing financial barriers: Lowery-Hart said the share of central Texas high school graduates who enroll in college fell from 60 percent to 42 percent over the past decade. While many people assumed the decline was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hart said affordability concerns and growing skepticism about the value of a college degree were reshaping students’ decisions.

“Students were contemplating the debt they might have to incur versus the financial outcomes of the degree,” Lowery-Hart said. “Central Texas was going to pay a big price economically if we didn’t change those numbers.”

“What we’ve learned from students is that when you remove those barriers, higher education seems possible, and we all benefit from that,” he added.

ACC is one of many community colleges participating in a broader national expansion of state-funded promise programs, which provide tuition-free community college in over 30 states. At Columbus State Community College in Ohio, eligible students receive free tuition along with a $500-per-semester scholarship for educational expenses. In California, Cerritos College’s Promise Program provides eligible students with two years of free tuition as well as counseling and other support services.

Austin Community College District

As a result of ACC’s free tuition program and support services, Lowery-Hart said students frequently report feeling less financial stress and greater confidence about their ability to stay enrolled.

The approach has coincided with improvements in several student success measures. Since the launch of the free tuition program, ACC has reported an 87 percent increase in degrees and awards earned among participating students compared with pre-program levels.

Lowery-Hart said those outcomes reflect the college’s broader philosophy of meeting students where they are and addressing the challenges they face both inside and outside the classroom.

“Our vision is loving students to success,” Lowery-Hart said. “Loving the student we have, not the student we used to have, or the student we wished we had or the student we thought we had.”

More than tuition: Lowery-Hart said the college’s fall 2025 student omnibus survey found that 31 percent of students would not have enrolled in any college without free tuition, highlighting the important role that such programs can play in expanding educational opportunity.

“When you are in a country that faces such deep economic, social and racial challenges and injustices, you need innovative, responsive higher education partners,” Lowery-Hart said. “The most innovative group in the higher education sector are community colleges.”

“We’re nimble, we’re deeply connected to our students and the communities in which they thrive. We understand the challenges they face, and we have direct relationships with employers that can connect students to jobs that lead to a family-sustaining wage,” he added. “I truly believe that community colleges are the hope that this country needs to deal with the challenges that it faces.”

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