As President Gundolf Graml settles into his first full year as President, one theme seems to consistently surface in his words and actions: support for the Collegeville community.
In August 2026, Graml was named a “community hero” by local nonprofit Integrating for Good for the school’s continuation of a program creating opportunities for special needs community members. Earlier this semester, the College opened an outdoor fitness court, with a direct focus on being a “go-to spot” for the town of Collegeville. And last spring, the school announced the America250 Tuition Promise for Montgomery County, a program allowing community members to receive a reduced cost tuition.
This emphasis continued this past week as Ursinus College announced an expansion to its Montgomery County Tuition Promise, with eligible students being guaranteed free tuition across four years at the College. Previously, the Montgomery County Tuition Promise capped tuition for eligible freshmen arriving in the Fall 2026 semester at $10,000.
In an official Ursinus News post, Ryan Burton-Romero, the vice president of enrollment management, explained the reasoning behind the expansion: “We want more students in our community to see Ursinus as an attainable option,” he said. “Expanding our Montgomery County Tuition Promise is a significant way to do that.”
Per Ursinus’s official website for the initiative, to qualify, prospective students must live in Montgomery County, file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (better known as FAFSA), have a family adjusted gross income of $65,000 or less, and “live on campus for all four years” of the promise. The clause which requires students to live on campus was essential, according to Graml, due to a desire to deliver the “full college experience.”
That “full experience” won’t come without cost. While the program covers tuition, it does not cover other costs, such as room and board. For reference, mandatory costs outside of tuition cost $18,678 for the 2026-27 academic year, per Ursinus College estimates.
The expansion of the Promise, perhaps not by coincidence, comes as the College aims to sustain and increase enrollment. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the school has struggled to garner its historic numbers of incoming freshmen. It’s a trend being seen across liberal arts schools nationwide — many universities, including local Cabrini University and Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, have closed for similar reasons.
Nevertheless, the introduction of the Montgomery Country Tuition Promise and APEX may be yielding promising results. Per Ursinus, the total number of students for the 26-27 academic year is 1347, a decrease of 23 students from 25-26. Meanwhile, between the 24-25 and 25-26 academic years, the student population dropped by 122.
Graml stressed, however, that the goal of the Promise was not to increase the school’s enrollment, but to ensure more affordable access to the university for its community. He pointed to the current cost of college as a “real pain point” nationwide.
“So much of our APEX initiative is focused on lifelong career exploration,” he said. “That’s something we want to make available to everyone.”
The expanded tuition promise will begin with freshmen starting at Ursinus in fall 2027.
