The UT System has the money to make this happen at every UT school for low-income students but it won’t ever happen. I feel like the UT System powers that be wants to keep UT far ahead of the other UT System schools but that’s bad for the state of Texas and the country. This selfishness is the reason why I feel the UT System will always be far behind the UC System which has multiple institutions ranked in the Top 15 of all public colleges. The UC System is less biased and fairly supports all its institutions which again are all highly ranked and well regarded.
I agree with many of the things that you state @NuScholar. I’m not sure if the UT System wants to keep UT far ahead of the other schools or they just want to make sure UT stays competitive with the other top schools in the country. Either way, it does hinder the development of the other schools. This applies not just to the paying of tuition but the overall funding allocated to UT vs the other schools.
I think the payment for tuition for low-income students will just increase the competitiveness of getting into UT probably driving the guaranteed admittance % even lower to 5% or lower. More students will be accepting the UT offer. This will force many good students to look beyond UT. A&M does have a similar tuition payment program but I don’t think they can absorb a higher student population. Even now, many students are getting accepted to Blinn vs A&M proper. UT Rio Grande has a similar tuition assistance program. UTD does have generous merit scholarships. Texas students will have to broaden their search. This will help the other schools. I know my future donations will be to UTD.
I think this has more to do with keeping UT on the same playing field with RICE and TAMU for in state students than it does keeping UT top among the UT System schools.
@BlueBayouAZ, I agree with you as far as financial aid. There were many kids accepted to UT that could not go because of financial issues and A&M already had the free tuition for income to $60,000 and it definitely is a cheaper place to live. If you can get into RICE, they do have a very nice financial package now.
You know another thought I had @GTAustin - when it comes to UTD and say UTA - they have the ability to pull students from the DFW area that can live at home - so all they have is tuition and fees. UTD has elected to go the merit scholarship route to serve students.
A school like TTU does not have the nearby student population to draw from. They are more generous with merit and need aid (and have less expensive housing options).