@ResidentEvilPS If your parents can pay for HYPSM then they can pay for other peer colleges as well. It’s okay if they don’t want to because it’s their money hence their decision and it’s a very difficult and life altering decision unless one is very wealthy.
UT is a fine option for people who don’t get scholarships elsewhere and want affordable options but high achievers who can get in any top ten school can just go to TAMU, UTD, UNT, Baylor, TCU, UTSA, TxTech etc for free. If difference between Harvard and Duke doesn’t matter than why would difference between UT and UNT matter?
These are very personal decisions but if you are paying sticker price for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Stanford or Johns Hopkins, CIT, Rice, Duke and UChicago, if aim is good education then it’s all the same.