Starting next fall, incoming freshmen could have some of their tuition covered by the university.

Enter the Huskie Advantage, a new program that will pay the remaining tuition of in-state freshmen who have the Pell Grant and MAP grant but cannot cover the cost of tuition with those two awards.

Admissions director Bob Burk said this program will only cover students’ tuition during their first year.

“That first year is where overall financial aid possibilities are the lowest,” Burk said. “Once they’re sophomores, they’ll have more regular financial aid, scholarships, grants and loans available to them.”

Brent Gage, assistant vice provost of enrollment services, said transfer students will not qualify for the program. Even though it would be their first year at NIU, most transfers enter at the junior level and can get junior-level aid.

Gage said the Huskie Advantage was developed for families who could not apply to NIU without having the remainder of tuition being covered.

“There’s a lot of students who only get $900 of Pell and $3,000 of the MAP grant,” Gage said. “That’s where we think this program will have a big impact, on those working families.”

The Pell Grant is a need-based grant given out by the U.S. government. The MAP grant is also a need-based grant that is available to Illinois students going to in-state schools only.

In addition, the money that will be distributed to students will qualify as gift aid, Burk said, meaning students will not have to pay it back.

The cost to NIU is unknown. Out of incoming freshmen, nearly one-third of those students will have Pell grants and a significant portion of that one-third will also have MAP grants, Gage said.

“It’s the amount that’s going to vary a bit,” Gage said.