Lt. Gov. Patrick favors scrapping key college financial aid program - Lindsay Ellis, Houston Chronicle

Sen. Kel Seliger, an Amarillo Republican who heads the Senate's higher education committee, said he plans to introduce legislation to end the so-called tuition set-aside program. Under state law, public universities are required to take some of the tuition they collect and use the money as financial aid for students who can't afford to pay the full cost of a semester. In the 2015 fiscal year, colleges gave nearly 209,000 students some $345 million in grants to defray tuition bills from the pool of money set aside. Statewide, students from higher income families paid an average of about $680 more to attend college to cover those grants awarded. Seliger said his goal is to make going to college in Texas more affordable. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Lt-Gov-Patrick-favors-scrapping-key-college-10816666.php