Can someone explain to me how AP credits work with flat rate tuition? Do you pretty much have to claim 15 hours of AP credit at a time to benefit at all? I’m hearing flat rate tuition really messes up your AP credits…is this true? How do you work around it so they can still save you money?
You’ll be taking AP credit on the advice of your advisor and what you get approved for. Remember you have to pay a small amount to take the AP as credit. So your advisor will tell you what counts as an elective and what can be used for your core curriculum. It’s all important because you also have to fulfill the Flags requirements. Very very important to be doing Class Audits along the way to make sure the AP credit is applied exactly the way you want it applied. So many students end up being shocked when it is a very simple online thing to do.
You’re considered full-time with over 12 credit hours per semester. Some people use the additional AP credits to graduate a semester or even two earlier. Others use the extra time to take a certificate/minor in addition to their major or just to take a lighter load for four years. I think mine had at least two AP classes count towards an 8 class business certificate which is now a minor I believe. It’s up to you how you wish to play it out.
If you graduate and stick to your curriculum and the number of credits needed for your degree - you are eligible for a small rebate when you graduate if you fill out the paperwork. Some people don’t care about this since the rebate is so small. It’s hard to predict what happens in your four years since you might Q drop a class and take it again (only 3 allowed). The AP credits give you flexibility to take the course load you wish to take at the speed that works for you. However you have to be careful because if you use AP credits to only do a 12 credit semester - you have no room to Q drop without losing full-time student status and that might effect scholarships, etc.
Some students like to add fillers into their semester load like weight training or swim instruction or maybe an interesting class to take or adding in a research class.
Flat tuition means you pay the same for 12 credits in that semester as 18. It doesn’t matter that you have AP credits as those aren’t part of the 12-18 for THIS semester. They are in the past, just like the number of credits you have on your transcript from the fall semester don’t change the price you’ll pay for the 16 credits you take in the spring.
You may get to graduate a semester early if you have AP/DE/IB credits. You may also get out a semester early if you take 18 credits every semester rather than 12-15, thus getting 3 to 6 ‘free’ credits every semester.
I would have whoever told you that to explain it because I am not sure what they mean exactly.
There are two things that people consider flat rate tuition. One is an election you make upon enrollment between traditional and fixed rate tuition.
https://tuition.utexas.edu/rates/longhorn-fixed-tuition
That seems to me to be a choice between locking in your rate of inflation or taking a chance that rate increases will be less than they project.
The other “flat rate” is that there is no difference between the rate for 12 hours versus 16.
If you use your AP credits to take 12 hours per semester rather than 15 and graduate on time, you don’t save money by using AP credits. If you use your AP credits to graduate early, they save you money for semesters you do not attend.
All of that being said, you are going to find that tuition is one of the cheapest things about UT. Rent and living expenses are the big cost drivers. Using your AP credits to graduate early saves you BOTH tuition and living expenses.
But there are pitfalls to graduating early so money is not the only factor.
So if flat rate tuition is 12 hours per semester and my child has 24 hours of AP credit, they can benefit financially as long as they claim 12 hours at a time to graduate early. I was thinking the flat rate tuition was 15 hours and my girls will have 24 hours of AP credit to transfer in, so I was thinking if they transferred in the first 15 they would only have 9 remaining so they would need to take 2 summer classes to be able to knock out a second semester without having a semester where they only take 2 classes yet have to pay for 5. But knowing the rate is 12 hours and not 15 helps a lot. I’ve already done the research on which AP credits will transfer for their majors…I was just confused as to how they financially work with the flat rate tuition.
What are the pitfalls to graduating early and what are these Flags you speak of? My daughters will be majoring in marketing and the other either in Communications or BFA in Visualization, so not much issue with AP creds transferring.
If you are intending to use AP credit to graduate early, then you would need to have enough of it to reduce the number of semesters attended. (Note that it typically takes an average of 15 semester hours per semester to graduate in 8 semesters. Taking heavier or lighter course loads per semester can decrease or increase the number of semesters needed.)
However, AP credit can be used in other ways, such as taking advanced placement and/or fulfilling subject requirements, so that you can take additional free electives in anything you are interested in, even if you do not graduate early.
Specific to Texas public universities, be careful about accepting AP credit beyond 9 semester hours, since it can affect whether you can claim the rebate described at http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/apps/financialaid/tofa2.cfm?ID=447 . I.e. you may want to consider whether AP credit beyond 9 semester hours will help you graduate earlier, fulfill subject requirements, or take advanced placement, before accepting it.
An advisor will usually give you all the information you need with regard to when to accept AP credit. Considering you have to pay for this - it will not happen automatically. All students are informed of these things at their Freshman Orientation.
I know many individuals who used AP credit differently. Yes, you can use it to graduate earlier by keeping a full credit load each semester until your junior or senior year. If you have scholarships you need to be very careful you are fulfilling the number of credit hours needed and another reason not to accept all AP credit at once. You can also use it to lighten each semester to 12-13 credit hours if you need to focus on your specific hard classes. You can also use it add in a Minor or a dual Major.
Many students do this to be more appealing to employers. Sometimes you have so much credit - you can keep to your full 4 year plan and add in a Minor offered (18 credit hours) or perhaps a whole dual Mayor to complement your degree plan. If you get to Senior year and your last semester is just 9 credit hours - UT will not penalize you because you are below the 12 credit hours. As you go through your degree plan - always make sure you submit online for a degree Audit and it will tell you how those AP credits have been applied. I can’t tell you how many people are shocked when it gets to senior year because they never did this and it wasn’t what they were expecting.
While UT does offer a Tuition Rebate - it gets tricky to stick to only 3 credit hours above your degree plan. If you drop a class it counts against you. Usually, more people take additional classes or exercise classes rather than caring about the rebate. It all depends on what you are studying. I’ve heard of others getting the rebate who went above the 3 credit hours as well. If you are close - fill out the paperwork and apply. It doesn’t happen automatically.
Flags are required by UT and given on specific classes. This is to make sure all students get what is required by the university. They are on many different classes and usually an advisor will go over this to make sure Flags are fulfilled especially when using AP classes. Freshman are required to take a UGS class and some of those might fulfill multiple Flags and some offer no Flags. The Flag classes get Full first.
Flag requirements are meant to make a student more well-rounded in what the University wants. You do not fulfill Flags from AP classes credit. https://ugs.utexas.edu/ccc/flags