Today, the university of Illinois announced a plan to make tuition free for students who meet an income based criteria.

The program called, Illinois Commitment, is designed to keep talented students in the state of Illinois

From the release:

Illinois Commitment will provide financial awards to cover the tuition and campus fees for in-state students whose family income is less than $61,000, the current median family income in Illinois.

 

The program will be open to freshman and transfer students beginning with the entering freshman class in fall 2019. Through a combination of institutional, federal and state aid, including Pell Grants and Monetary Award Program grants, freshman students who meet the program’s criteria will have the financial aid necessary to cover the cost of tuition and campus fees for up to eight semesters of continuous enrollment on the Urbana campus. Transfer students will be covered for up to six semesters of continuous enrollment.

About half of all households in Illinois are eligible for this program.