<p>Oh you know it. I worked hard to get accepted. I appealed </p>
<p>UT Austin really has one of the worst financial aids I’ve ever seen in a university.
I mean, I know people with 0 EFC who only got the Pell Grant and essentially have to borrow money from the government to attend the school
Those same people would have gotten 11k-16k financial aid packages from Texas A&M.</p>
<p>(UT claims that it’s moving from merit-based aid to need-based aid, but where the hell is the money actually going to?)</p>
<p>Athletes^</p>
<p>I always hear that fin aid that UT is less than that at A&M but I ended up having to pay ~$1K more for A&M. I also received need-based aid at UT and I’m not an athlete so I believe it all depends? Athletes do receive more money though, a friend of mine received 15K more for athletics but she also had an EFC of 0 and great stats (she’s going to Vandy). Another friend of mine in the top 10% is receiving virtually no aid - her package has $15K in loans - from UT or A&M and she has an EFC of 0. :/</p>
<p>That’s so strange! I wonder what they base it all on? :/</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s really weird. Do you guys think UT give less financial aid for some people in purpose to scare them away? </p>
<p>Well that would only make UT look bad in terms of stats. For example, people rejecting an offer by a University ding their overall ranking. I think it has more to do with legislatures underfunding the university. Personally my instincts tell me it is all politics, the politics of the republican/aggies who hate a liberal institution.</p>
<p>@foafoa, I don’t think it’s to scare people off, after all they WANT students to apply… Besides, she’s my best friend and the sweetest girl you could ever talk to. She’s also a hardworker so I don’t see a reason for scaring her off… Or anybody really.</p>
<p>The only reason that I can think of for why she didn’t get anything is perhaps she filled out her FAFSA later on than I did? She applied to both A&M and UT in early September while I didn’t do so until the day of the application due date; however, I filled out the FAFSA the day it was open and turned it in while she didn’t do so until ~a month later.</p>
<p>But what’s weird is that A&M didn’t give her anything either (they only have her ~1K more than UT but she still needs to get upwards $10K in loans). She is an immigrant but she’s been in TX for 4 years so I can’t see why it would be an issue? The other girl who applied and got the athletics scholarship is also not a natural born citizen…</p>
<p>I don’t know, maybe there’s more to how they give out financial aid than what they tell us?</p>
<p>@college38283 I think your friend’s EFC is probably higher than you think or whatever she tell you. I just can’t see how it is possible that a person with EFC of zero would be offered nothing more than pell grants. My EFC is $1.7k and I was offered $10k in grants, I’m also an immigrant who have live in Texas since 2011. As for people who submit their fafsa late, I doubt it would affect much because If I’m not mistaken, lovechickfila says she submitted her fafsa almost a month after the deadline and still got an awesome package. </p>
<p>I have to disagree with the statement that UT is horrible with financial aid. I personally was given $25,830 in grants and scholarships. (No loans for me!) However, I do have an EFC of $0 and very low household income. Nonetheless, I am extremely pleased with how generous UT was with financial aid since I was expecting to be a loan slave for the rest of my life. So yeah, hook’em! </p>
<p>@foafoa
I am living example of 0 EFC with only the pell grant + loans as my financial aid package.
The reason is that I was (wrongly) admitted to the university as an OOS student. I fixed this mistake but still only received the pell grant.
Supposedly they ran out of money for awards.</p>
<p>I also contacted the financial aid office, but they essentially told me I was ■■■■ out of luck. If I didn’t receive any other awards, I would not receive them for the next years. </p>
<p>*For the record, UT received my FAFSA in the middle of February.</p>
<p>Edit: damn, can’t link to the picture.</p>
<p>@foafoa I had initially thought that but she showed me her fafsa and asked if maybe she sent it to the wrong school. She didn’t. I don’t know why she didn’t get anything but I told her to email A&M (she had committed by then) and they told her something about running out or trying again after the first semester (she forwarded me the email).</p>
<p>@Fredjan Sorry to hear that happened to you! If you’re committing to UT you can try applying for the On-Time Loans, where if you graduate on-time you don’t have to pay the money back. I’ve also been told by a teacher that it may be possible to get more financial aid if you ask about it after the fall semester has started. After all, the school most likely has money left over because not 100% of all kids given financial aid end up accepting UT admission.</p>
<p>@college38283 I’m calling the financial aid office tomorrow and see if anything has changed (after all, didn’t a lot of people just reject UT at the beginning of this month?). Hopefully they might help me more, but I’m still expecting the worst.</p>
<p>@Fredjan best of luck to you! And yes, I believe May 1st was the final date for committing to UT. Hopefully you end up getting some money. If not, try the On-Time Loan application or applying for as many outside scholarships as possible!</p>
<p>@college38283 no luck. Even if the funding is there, they won’t give it to me because I didn’t qualify for it at the time of my FAFSA.</p>
<p>At this point I am seriously considering taking a gap year and applying to other schools, haha.
It’s just… inappropriate that financial aid at this school is so bad.</p>