A&M Chancellor Announces Plans To Alleviate Cost For Middle Class

Officials from the Texas A&M University System announced plans to help middle class students from piling debt so high it eats away at them for countless years. A&M System Chancellor John Sharp made the announcement Wednesday during his testimony before the Joint Interim Committee on Higher Education Formula Funding in Austin.

Of course it would need approval by the Board of Regents, and this initiative would fund new "Regents' Grants" with $3 million from the Available University Fund each year over the next decade.

Officials said these grants are to lessen hardships on students who fall between the cracks of their parents making too much money for full grant assistance, but not enough to pay for their children's education with rising costs of tuition.

"We do not want our hard-working students to be forced to take out extra loans or lose valuable time toward their degree because of unanticipated issues with things like medical expenses, job loss or natural disasters," Sharp said in a statement.

"One of the core functions of our universities is to get students to graduation with a degree that allows them to be highly productive members of society, and our new Regents' Grant initiative will eliminate some of the pitfalls that have threatened the progress of too many of our bright students."

Eligibility for the proposed one-time grant would require students to meet criteria that include an adjusted gross income of between $60,000 to $100,000 per year for the student and their family.

This plan developed when Sharp and other A&M System leaders worked together in the Governor's Commission to Rebuild Texas, when officials said in a statement they discovered a gap in the financial aid available for students with combined family income too high to allow them to apply for Pell Grants, but still "too modest to provide a cushion in case of unexpected expenses like those incurred in the wake of Harvey."

Image: Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp gives a Gig'Em before to the crowd at Kyle Field, before the start of an NCAA college football game between South Carolina and Texas A&M Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Sam Craft)