Bailey: To secure free tuition, fees and housing, UTRGV students will have to commit stay in Valley

AUSTIN, Texas - UT-Rio Grande Valley students can get their tuition and fees paid for four years and two years of free housing - but they will have to agree to stay in the Valley for five years after graduating. Details on the Pinnacle Scholarship program - designed to stop the Valley’s Brain Drain - were outlined by UTRGV President Guy Bailey during a virtual meeting of the UT System Board of Regents. “If you are admitted to this Pinnacle Scholars Program and you meet all the benchmarks and you progress, you can graduate from medical school or the PA program, the nursing program, having never paid any tuition or fee,” Bailey told the UT System regents.“You should be able to graduate debt free. Or with very minimal debt. That is our goal. We think we can get the best students in the Valley that way.”Then came the kicker.“Now, we are going to ask something from those students. We will ask students to sign an agreement that you will commit to live in the Rio Grande Valley, once you graduate. We have made an investment in you and we will ask you to make that same investment in the Rio Grande Valley. So, that is a key for us moving forward.”Bailey said funding for the scholarship program will come for a $40 million gift from philanthropists Dan Jewett and MacKenzie Scott. “As all of you know we received a $40 million gift from Mackenzie Scott. What that is going to help us do is transform our undergraduate student body,” Bailey told the regents.Thuy Dan “Mimi” Nguyen is the UT student on the UT System board of regents. She praised Bailey for the new plan.“I think the Pinnacle Scholarship is a great idea. I know over at the law school we have something similar for public interest students. If they commit to working in the public interest for a certain period of time they receive a scholarship. I think this not only betters the community but traditionally helps those that are disadvantaged,” Nguyen said.Editor's Note: To read the full story go to the Rio Grande Guardian's website.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.