![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OLLU-Abel-Teresa-2025-38.jpg\")
A statue on Our Lady of the Lake University in 2025. Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\nOur Lady of the Lake University announced a new pathway for students to earn a tuition-free master\u2019s degree in as little as one year starting this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The No-Cost Master\u2019s Program offers eligible OLLU students a free pathway to earning a master\u2019s degree in the areas of business administration, cybersecurity, cybersecurity management, nonprofit management and social work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor generations, our university has innovated and expanded access to higher education for a higher purpose,\u201d said Abel Ch\u00e1vez, president of OLLU. \u201cToday, we take our commitment to our families one monumental step, by ensuring that access, completion, and advanced credentials are attainable and linked to meaningful livelihoods based on values.\u201d<\/p>\n
University officials are opening 30 spots for qualifying students who want to start in any of these graduate programs this fall, and can commit to completing a master\u2019s degree in 12 to 18 months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A statue on Our Lady of the Lake University in 2025. Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
To qualify, students must have completed one of 34 eligible undergraduate degrees in four consecutive years and can immediately enroll in any of the five graduate degree pathways. They must also maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 during their undergraduate and graduate programs, and have demonstrated financial need.<\/p>\n
Alan Silva, provost and vice president for academic affairs at OLLU, said these initial 30 seats are a way to test students\u2019 interest. They selected some of the most popular master\u2019s degree plans that can be completed in 30 hours, he said, but the goal would be to expand the eligible graduate degree plans, as well as the number of seats over the next couple of years.<\/p>\n
Students will have to cover the costs of books and some moderate fees. But the bulk of the cost will be absorbed by the university, Silva said, adding that these instructional costs will be absorbed into the university\u2019s operating costs and covered in part by an increase in tuition that takes effect this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Undergraduate tuition at OLLU is increasing for the 2026-27 academic year by about $40 per credit hour, resulting in an increase of about $622 per semester for students taking between 12 and 19 hours.<\/p>\n
The private Catholic university, which serves a majority Hispanic, or Latino student population, is known as the birthplace of the Hispanic Serving Institution<\/a> designation that most of the region\u2019s universities now carry. <\/p>\n But over the years, student enrollment at OLLU has suffered. Last fall, counts showed about 1,800 total students had enrolled, a decrease of nearly 170 students since the fall of 2024, and close to 300 since the fall of 2023.<\/p>\n Last spring, university officials moved to cut over a dozen undergraduate degree programs<\/a> as a result of a two-year evaluation examining student interest, Ch\u00e1vez said at the time.<\/p>\n Silva said this no-cost program is the next step in the realignment of OLLU\u2019s offerings and pathways to figure out what isn\u2019t working for students anymore and what could be built instead.<\/p>\n