Weber State University providing Utah students support amid SCOTUS denial of debt relief

SALT LAKE CITY — Hard on the heels of the Supreme Court’s Denial of affirmative action, The University of North Carolina announced that any student whose family makes less than $80,000 will be awarded free college tuition. Low-income Utah students looking for a similar program are in luck.

Weber State University’s Executive Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships Jed Spencer spoke to Dave and Dujanovic about WSU’s tuition options.

Spencer said that “Weber State offers something very similar. For students whose household income is less than $50,000 and qualify for a Pell Grant, we cover all their tuition and fees and we’re doing a pilot program, covering books as well this year.”

How are these funds provided you may ask?

According to Spencer, that university does it ” by leveraging Federal Pell grant funds, state funds and institutional funds.”

“It’s an awesome program because it allows the students to know that they’re going to have funding to pay for their tuition, fees and books for the several years that they’re here for school so that they can make plans and commit to full-time attendance,” Spencer continued. 

The application for this assistance is fairly easy too, the only thing that you need is to fill out a FAFSA, and Weber State Financial Aid Office will take it from there.

Additionally, students not going to Weber State University can also take advantage of initiatives compared to the one at Weber State, Spencer said.

“The state of Utah has put a lot of money into helping all the schools in the state follow a similar program.”

Related:

• Utah schools and higher ed officials respond to affirmative action
• Utah leaders respond to Supreme Court’s student loan relief decision