As college costs continue to skyrocket, many students find themselves unable to afford tuition. In response, some schools are taking proactive measures, including eliminating tuition in certain cases.

Spring Hill College in Mobile is offering tuition-free graduate degrees to all incoming freshmen. Starting next fall, a student must live on campus, stay enrolled all four years, and graduate with a grade-point average of at least 3.0 to qualify.

Nathan Copeland, vice president of enrollment at Spring Hill College in Mobile, said it is a way to remove financial barriers and enhance student opportunities.

"While we anticipate that it's going to help our enrollment, one of the things we're really looking at is adding value to our students," Copeland explained. "Because we always hear that college is expensive, and the question of, 'Is college really worth it?'"

He emphasized it will also be necessary for a student to meet the prerequisites for their master's degree. And he noted current and transfer students won't be missing out, as long as they keep a 3.0 GPA and fulfill the program's prerequisites, they'll receive a 25% discount on grad school costs.

Studies indicate most students take four to five years to complete their undergraduate degree, although some take six years to finish. Apart from lessening the financial burden of graduate school, Copeland added they hope the tuition-free program serves as a motivator for students to achieve their goals.

"We think it's going to help the college in a couple of ways, like retention, and even increase our academic excellence," Copeland stressed. "We'll have students who, because there's that GPA threshold to get the free master's program, we anticipate working a little bit harder to make sure that they can maintain that GPA so they can get the free master's."

Other colleges in states like Illinois, Iowa and Virginia are implementing similar programs aimed at reducing college costs. Some include tuition "resets," to significantly decrease expenses.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

For active-duty service members and veterans eyeing a college degree, the march to academic success just got easier. The University of North Carolina system now has a tool that simplifies the conversion of military expertise into university credits across 16 campuses.

Bradley Wrenn, program manager for military and veterans education with UNC, described the system's Military Equivalency System as a way to streamline what used to be a rigorous process for people looking to find out how much of their military service translates to a college degree.

"The real challenges fell in the students not really knowing where to submit the information. There wasn't really a system-wide mechanism for them to input their military training and experience information, and so they were doing it at the university level," Wrenn said.

He noted that there was inconsistency among universities regarding who provided information to potential students. Now, anyone with an American Council on Education joint services transcript can easily input their information to find out which courses they will receive credit for.

The impact of this initiative extends beyond individual students. North Carolina ranks as the fourth-largest state for military members, and Wrenn said the UNC System aims to leverage this tool to address critical workforce needs. By credentialing military members, Wrenn added they will have the opportunity to fill needs in high-demand fields such as health sciences, business, education, and STEM.

"We see these folks who are coming out of the military as being key to being able to fill those workforce needs by credentialing them in such a way that they're able to take those jobs because our end goal is not only to graduate our students and to credential them but to keep them here in the state, " Wrenn added.

There are about 7,000 course matches in the tool's database, but Wrenn says it will expand to include more courses. More than 21,000 military-affiliated students enrolled in UNC institutions, representing nearly 10% of the student population.

Boston University's Prison Education Program is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and is hoping to expand.

Students at Massachusetts Correctional Institution Norfolk and MCI Framingham are earning undergraduate certificates and Bachelor of Liberal Arts degrees, to reform their lives and find ways to give back to their communities upon release.

Program Director Mary Ellen Mastrorilli said it offers hope for a better self, and her students are eager to learn.

"They're highly motivated," said Mastrorilli. "They're not afraid to work hard. They do their assignments. They're just, in some ways, the ideal student."

Mastrorilli said there's a misconception that educating people in prison is being soft on crime, but research shows these programs reduce misconduct and cut the likelihood of recidivism nearly in half.

That may be due to the better job prospects and higher wages that formerly incarcerated people with education experience.

It's also one reason Mastrorilli said she hopes the program will expand - and why even more universities, including Tufts and Emerson, are growing their own prison initiatives, and giving students a second chance.

"The prison education classroom is a space where they get to claim their humanity and their dignity," said Mastrorilli. "And it's easy to understand how personal growth will come from that."

Students in Boston University's program have earned more than 400 bachelor's degrees in the past few decades alone.

Mastrorilli said the undergraduate certificate program has also become increasingly popular with people serving shorter sentences, and for those unsure if they can handle the degree program workload.

She said it's important to judge her students not by their crimes, but as human beings with unlocked potential.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

This summer, colleges and universities will have to comply with a new federal rule and not withhold students' transcripts over unpaid tuition and fees.

North Dakota officials see the movement as a boost to people pursuing new job skills. The U.S. Education Department said starting July 1, higher-ed institutions cannot refuse to turn over transcripts related to any course paid for by federal student loans or grants, which are sometimes prompted by overdue book fees or other school debt.

Lisa Johnson, vice chancellor of academic and student affairs for the North Dakota University System, said for a person looking to re-enroll or apply for a new job, overcoming such obstacles can be huge.

"If we're trying to attract returning adults, individuals who have 'stopped out,' this really has to be a part of your focus and the broader array of policies and procedures that we look at," Johnson contended.

North Dakota's system is not designed to issue partial transcripts. Johnson expects the state to honor releases for all situations involving an outstanding balance. A formal vote is expected this spring. She noted campuses would still have leeway to prevent a student from seeking new courses at their school over fears they would be taking on too much additional debt.

In those cases, Johnson pointed out a student can try to work with the campus on a repayment plan, or seek out opportunities at other schools, including certificate programs which may cost less. She added some North Dakota schools are exploring other ways to ease debt issues.

"Campuses are having preliminary discussions about waiving low levels of outstanding debt," Johnson emphasized. "Things like parking tickets."

Beyond wiping out minor balances, she noted schools within the North Dakota system are being proactive in working with former students looking to pay off their debt. She said it is better than relying on collection agencies tacking on additional fees and putting students in a more difficult spot.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.