Taking Tuition Off the Table

For generations, higher education has been described as the great equalizer. But for many families, the cost of tuition has quietly turned that promise into a barrier. What happens when a university stops debating access and simply takes tuition off the table? And more importantly, what has to change in the educational ecosystem to make that kind of promise actually work—not just to enroll students, but to help them persist, succeed, and graduate? In this episode of Game Changers Silicon Valley, Jack Miner, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at the University of Cincinnati joins me, to explore the Bearcat Affordability Grant—an ambitious effort to remove cost as the deciding factor in whether students from the community can attend UC. But this conversation goes deeper than free tuition. It looks at how universities must rethink retention, student support, co-op pathways, and early academic success if access is going to translate into real outcomes. This is a candid discussion about what it takes to redesign opportunity at scale—and why simply opening the door isn't enough. If you care about the future of higher education, and social mobility, this episode offers a clear-eyed look at what change actually requires.