Texas Is Set To Pass A Bill Handing Out Free Money For College

Education has been a pretty big topic in Texas for quite some time, and it kind of grew a bit after the COVID pandemic. All parents were in essence forced to homeschool their children in some capacity, and some ended up sticking with it.

Others have wanted to venture off to college to get a degree, however the cost of going to college has skyrocketed making it difficult for many to afford it without scholarships or grants of some sort.

The Texas Senate is working to change that though and make it easier for both things to happen.

It appears they're on the verge of passing a school voucher bill, and it would provide families with much needed funds to pursue these ventures. It's called Senate Bill 2 and it's expected to easily pass when placed in front of them for voting on it.

The bill is a proposed $1 billion program, and it would throw some good money around and serve up to 100,000 students in their quest for that further education.

It would give students $10,000 annually for private school tuition, and also award homeschooled students $2,000 annually.

Furthermore, the bill would prioritize those that are low-income and special education students, with 80% of the funds earmarked for those categories.

When we think about low-income, we have a tendency to lean towards things like SNAP to determine eligibility for low-income, but this one would be a bit different. This bill sets different parameters for low-income.

It would be set at an annual income at or below 500% federal poverty guidelines. That number works out to $160,750 or less for a family of four. Unless you have two adults in the household with average yearly salaries of $80,000+ each, you'd be able to qualify.

The bill will not give prioritization based on whether or not the child attended a low-performing school, it would strictly be based off income.

There is not date set yet for the vote, but it has been labeled an emergency item by Gov. Abbott which will push it to a vote sooner rather than later. If it passes, it moves to the House for a vote where they expect it to pass easily as well.