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Officials from local colleges told San Antonio City Council members Tuesday that their investment in Promise scholarships is paying off.
At a briefing with the council’s education committee, officials from the community college system and both of San Antonio’s public four-year universities said their Promise programs are helping them attract and retain more students and, in turn, are helping improve Bexar County’s educational and economic outlook.
AlamoPROMISE program director Stephanie Vasquez said Bexar County’s college-going rate has increased 7.4% since the launch of AlamoPROMISE in 2019 — more than any other urban county in Texas.
“Coinciding with those access and success efforts, including the launch of Promise programs in San Antonio, the number of adults living below the poverty level has decreased since 2018, and Bexar County has actually experienced the greatest change in poverty decline compared to the state and nation,” Vasquez said.
Both the county and the city contribute funding for AlamoPROMISE. The City of San Antonio has allocated $4.6 million for AlamoPROMISE next year.
The University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas A&M University-San Antonio launched Promise programs shortly after the Alamo Colleges. All three programs have expanded since they were first launched.
AlamoPROMISE now covers tuition and fees for any recent Bexar County high school graduate.
UT San Antonio’s Bold Promise covers tuition and fees for Texas high school graduates in the top 25% of their class with a family income of $100,000 or less.
A&M-San Antonio’s Jaguar Promise covers tuition, books, and fees for Texas residents with a family income of $70,000 or less who graduate high school in the top 35% of their class or transfer in after earning their associate degree. Texas residents in the top 10% of their class or who graduate from an early college high school with at least 30 credit hours are eligible for Jaguar Promise regardless of income.
Officials with both UT San Antonio and A&M-San Antonio told the committee Tuesday that students in their Promise programs have higher retention rates.
UTSA Associate Vice Provost Eric Cooper said Bold Promise recipients have a 10% higher retention rate by their junior year, with 76% of Bold Promise students returning for a third year in the fall of 2023.
“And here's one of the things that we're really proud about: Bold Promise students borrow about $1,400 less annually than our non-Bold Promise students,” Cooper said. “UT San Antonio already has really low loan indebtedness upon graduation. It's much lower than the national average for even public institutions in the country. And the fact that we can actually offer this to decrease that for Bold Promise students is even better.”
A&M-San Antonio Associate Vice President Vanessa Torres said 93% of students who enrolled in Jaguar Promise this past fall continue to be enrolled this spring, compared to 86% of all first-year students.
“In our first-year student cohort, one in five of those students are receiving the Jaguar promise opportunity, which is really huge,” Torres said.
Torres said Jaguar Promise has also helped A&M-San Antonio attract more students from across the state, which in turn has reduced the number of students from San Antonio to about half of their first-year cohort.
"It is really exciting. Jaguar Promise has opened the door for us across the state. We happen to recruit a lot on the South Side. We have very strong ties, and that still is our backyard. Our focus on transfer students (remains). That's how we began as an institution," Torres said. "But we are also seeing a lot of interest from other parts of the city, Northside, San Antonio ISD, (and) outside of the city as well."
Roughly 20,000 students in San Antonio are attending college without paying tuition through a Promise program at UTSA, A&M-San Antonio, or the Alamo Colleges.
