TEXAS, USA — College is expensive, but if your student wants to go to UT in Austin they may be able to get some help.
$160 million is going to pay for tuition and fees for low and middle income undergraduates whose families earn no more than $65,000 a year. It's all thanks to a new endowment for the campus which is funded by a business a little closer to home.
Back in 1876 the state set aside more than one million acres, some right here in West Texas, to support the development of the UT and A&M University systems.
Using a fund sourced with discovery of oil under those lands and the advancement of hydraulic fracking, the value of the fund has shot up.
The biggest piece of land is nearly 500,000 acres in Hudspeth County, they also have a little more than 6,000 acres in Ector County, more than 65,000 acres in Crane County, 190,000 acres in Pecos County, and almost 350,000 acres in Andrews County...
Most of the royalties earned off the land go into stocks and bonds along with other assets, but they are able to distribute a portion of the money. As long as that portion stays under 7%, two thirds of that money goes to the UT system and what's left goes to the Texas A&A system.