KINGSVILLE, Texas — Students at Texas A&M University Kingsville announced that they will be receiving a new tuition assistance program.
The program will essentially cover the tuition of students whose family makes less than $65,000, and meet other criteria. The program is called the Javelina Promise. TAMUK has been working to eliminate financial angst for students for almost 100 years.
Students such as Gene Espinoza expressed great relief at being able to utilize the new resources the university has to offer.
"I have frankly been quite emotional about it," Espinoza said.
Superintendent of Kingsville Independent School District Cissy Perez said that the program has produced a large number of responses in the last 24 hours alone.
"Application increases to TAMUK, has been over 50 students, since they heard about this," Perez said. "So I know our students are hearing about it. And I think that is phenomenal."
The program not only impacts high school and college students, but could also change the thinking of many students as more residents have the potential to qualify.
"There's a lot of surrounding districts, including us, that are, you know, in the 70, 80% range of our population and even higher," Perez said. "So it's going to impact many, many students."
President of Enrollment at TAMUK Rito Silva said that the program will help students close the gap between finances and education.
"And the gap is enough to be able to, for them to think well, maybe I need to stop out, maybe I need to go get a job, earn some money come back," Silva said. "And so many times, that doesn't happen, because life gets in the way."
The university has been around for almost a hundred years, as one of the oldest higher education institutions in South Texas. In the fall semester students will now have more resources to help them pursue their education.
"I never would have expected that this opportunity would have come," Espinoza said.
In a statement the university said it is committed to providing a world class education for students and removing financial barriers for them as well.
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