Arizona State University has put Barack Obama's name back on one financial-aid webpage describing a program that covers tuition and fees for eligible Arizona students, reversing a change to that page that had removed the former president's name, according to Axios Phoenix. The program, which serves first-year, full-time Arizona residents from families earning up to $42,400 a year, can pay tuition and fees for up to four years, as reported by Axios Phoenix.
A Name That Disappeared, Then Reappeared
A Name That Disappeared, Then Reappeared Axios reported Wednesday that the program was then called ASU Promise Plus. On Thursday, the outlet reported that ASU’s financial-aid webpage no longer mentioned ASU Promise Plus, after Obama’s name had been restored. The outlet compared the page with a Wayback Machine capture from Sept. 8, 2026, and reported that the current page now matches the archived version. Other ASU pages on deferments and appeals still referred to ASU Promise Plus; archived versions of those pages had referred to Obama Scholars, according to Axios.
ASU spokesperson Jerry Gonzales told Axios that the university reviews program names periodically. He said Obama Scholars remains among the university’s aid offerings. Axios identified the ASU Promise Program as the broader portfolio, while Gonzales separately said ASU Promise Plus reflects a commitment to expanding access and supporting students on their paths to degrees. Axios reported that the number of students receiving the aid is unclear.
A Naming History That Stretches Back to 2009
ASU renamed its ASU Advantage program the Obama Scholars program in 2009, according to Axios Phoenix. In its account of the program’s expansion that year, ASU News said the qualifying family-income limit rose from $25,000 to $60,000 and the planned incoming freshman cohort grew from 500 to more than 1,600. Obama delivered ASU’s commencement address that year after the university faced criticism for not awarding him an honorary degree.
ASU Promise now includes Obama Scholars as one group of scholarships, Axios reported. An Obama spokesperson did not respond to the outlet's request for comment about the recent name changes.
How ASU aid compares with attendance costs
The Arizona Board of Regents’ Fiscal Year 2020 Financial Aid Report offers a historical comparison, not a current cost estimate: its charts put ASU resident undergraduates’ average tuition and mandatory fees at about $11,300 and net cost of attendance at about $14,100 in 2020. Arizona’s public universities collectively provided $981.2 million in institutional gift aid in 2020.
