Texas A&M University joins a growing number of institutions that have recently announced new or expanded free-tuition program for income-eligible undergraduates.gettyTexas A&M University announced Friday that it would make tuition free for incoming undergraduate students from families with annual incomes of $100,000 or less. The enhanced financial aid will begin in the 2026-27 academic year and represents a significant expansion of A&M’s existing Aggie Assurance financial aid program.The new tuition benefit comes on top of a decision the university made last year to freeze undergraduate tuition and required fees through the 2026–27 academic year, extending a policy that has — since 2022 — held undergraduate tuition and required fees at 2021 rates. Aggie Assurance is Texas A&M’s free tuition program for eligible low- and middle-income Texas families. First launched in 2008, it has been covering tuition and fees for students whose annual family income and assets are $60,000 or less. But now that threshold will be raised to $100,ooo, effective for Texas residents who enter the university in fall 2026.“Affordability and return on investment have been focal points for universities — and their critics — for a long time,” said Chris Reed, Texas A&M’s Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management and Chief Enrollment Officer, in the university’s release. “Texas A&M’s outcomes are strong, and we’re determined to make sure affordability remains an equal priority. Extending the tuition freeze and expanding Aggie Assurance are two concrete ways we’re keeping a Texas A&M degree attainable for more students and families.”According to the university, about 80,000 undergraduates have enrolled at Texas A&M without seeing their tuition increase over the past four years. The freeze has helped those students and their families save as much as $61 million cumulatively. Had the university raised tuition and fees by the rate of inflation (4.5%) across the past four years, students would have had to pay approximately $4,225 more in tuition and fees over that period.MORE FOR YOUIn addition, the university claimed its financial policies enabled approximately 63% of 2024–2025 Texas A&M graduates to complete their undergraduate education debt-free, up from 61% for the prior year, and much higher than the 45% national average.Texas A&M joins a growing number of colleges and universities that have announced new free-tuition program for income-eligible undergraduates within recent months. In January, Yale University announced that it was expanding its financial aid program and would, beginning next year, offer free tuition to entering undergraduates from families with annual incomes up to $200,000 and cover all costs of attendance for those from families with incomes below $100,000. Last fall, Johns Hopkins Universty, the University of Utah, Smith College, Bryn Mawr College and the Stevens Institute of Technology each launched or expanded free tuition programs. In September, Wake Forest University, Emory University and The Ohio State University announced new offers of free tuition for eligible undergraduates.Once confined mainly to Ivy League institutions and other elite private universities with relatively large endowments, free tuition offers are becoming more common as institutions try to respond to criticisms that college is too expensive, at the same time that the public’s confidence in the value of a college education continues to decline. In the case of Texas A&M, another consideration is no doubt its desire to stay competitive with the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Texas, both of which also cover tuition for resident undergraduates from families with adjusted gross incomes of $100,000 or less.