You haven’t seen insane prices until you see the prices in the SF Bay Area. 
@coolguy40 What I’ve heard is that the people at Texas understand that you are trying to exploit a loophole and manipulate the system, but that they are still ok with it due to the property taxes you are contributing, although I will still have to check to make sure if I decide to pursue this possibility.
@ps1kd Stupid question because I don’t know UT’s scholarship policy (only going from other universities) - but doesn’t UT have a policy where if OOS students receive $4k or more in scholarships, they can waive OOS tuition rates and receive in-state tuition rates instead? I know that at TAMU if you receive $4k scholarships, your OOS tuition rates change to in-state tuition rates. If that is the case, then with your stats, you should be able to get scholarships - maybe not from UT but from other sources.
@ps1kd Note:
“If your parent(s) claim you as a dependent on their federal income tax return, they must establish domicile in the state for you to claim residency.”
According to the tax code, you’re a dependent until you’re 24, married, or a military veteran. If you don’t meet that criteria, your parents are the ones that have to move to Texas and establish a primary residence. The best thing you can do for yourself is find a good school you and your parents can afford 
@JaceyK, that applies to other Texas schools but not UT. There are a VERY few OOS tuition waivers. Like 8 TOTAL for the school of engineering, all classes (freshmen through seniors).
No the scholarships must be awarded by UT itself and are not automatic even with a scholarship (see for example https://cns.utexas.edu/honors/scholarships/out-of-state-tuition-waivers). It is possible (my D18 was offered one last year), but extremely competitive - each school at UT has only a handful to offer for all undergraduates in that school. For example CNS say they award 5-7 each year and have an entering class of 2400 of whom ~450 are from OOS (and its not completely clear if there are 5-7 awards for freshmen or 5-7 for all four years, it may well be the latter).
But on the topic of getting residency for tuition purposes, there is lots of misinformation (as well as uncalled for criticism of the OP) in this thread. For example re post #43: your parents aren’t forced to claim you as a dependent on their tax return even if they may be eligible to do so. Utah is the state I’m more familiar with in terms of residency for tuition purposes and they have the same rule (you may not be claimed as a dependent by out of state parents), but all that means is that your parents don’t claim you on their tax return (and therefore lose some deductions), they can still provide support. The second criteria in Utah is physical presence for 12 months, Texas probably has something like that too (but you may still qualify for the sophomore year).
You need to consult with the university (and perhaps an accountant or lawyer) about the exact rules in Texas, but it is entirely possible that your parents may be able to provide support on an ongoing basis (perhaps even paying a mortgage) and the key action that must be taken is that you own the property and not them. The rules on how/what support can be provided are what you need to understand.
@coolguy40,you are confusing the IRS definition of dependent and the federal financial aid definition of dependent.
For tax purposes, you are a qualified child and can be taken as a tax dependent if you are under 19 or under 24 and a student. You can be a qualifying relative if the parent (taxpayer) supports you but you make under about $4000 (I don’t remember the exact amount but it is low). You can be independent for tax purposes if you support at least 51% of your living expenses even if you are a student and under 24.
It is much harder to be independent for financial aid purposes. That’s the 24, or military, or married, or support a minor child.
Dependent for Texas instate tuition is yet another definition. The OP could be a Texas resident for tuition purposes and still be dependent for FAFSA (probably will). That condo is an extra asset.
OP, what if all this doesn’t work? Will you still go to UT and pay OOS? Would you be able to afford that without any need based FA (which will most likely happen because of the condo as a second real estate holding)? Would you take 2 gap years?
You can argue with us al you want and even if you convinced all of us that you will get into UT (as an out of state applicant) and you will get instate tuition, you still have to convince UT admissions. Good luck.
I live on the east coast and neighbors had a condo in Austin where the dad worked 3 days a week (he worked for an austin firm) and then was home the other 5 days…when the time came, his kid got into UT as an in-state resident and it actually felt like they did it pretty easily.
It seems like no-one is actually looking at the rules here. The UT site links to the Texas law which provides the definitions: http://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=T&app=9&p_dir=N&p_rloc=136587&p_tloc=&p_ploc=1&pg=2&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=1&ch=21&rl=21
So the key things here are that “dependent” is defined as eligible to be claimed as a dependent of a parent of the person for purposes of determining the parent’s income tax liability under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. In other words, you can’t have your parents simply not claim you on their tax return (which is the situation in Utah and is much easier to address). You would therefore need sufficient assets to be transferred into your name so that you are not providing more than half of your support.
The second part of the rules (http://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=1&ch=21&rl=24) discusses establishing domicile. This requires living there for 12 months (there is no specific number of days of absence, but the 29 day rule used in Utah may be a decent rule of thumb) and then satisfying at least one of four domicile criteria of which the easiest option (and salient one for this discussion) is “Sole or joint marital ownership of residential real property in Texas”.
The third piece to consider is that there is no definitive need for a gap year if you are willing to pay OOS tuition for freshman year (and perhaps some or all of your sophomore year, depending on when you become independent for tax purposes): residency may be changed (http://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=1&ch=21&rl=27) per §21.27(c) “An institution may reclassify a person who had previously been classified as a resident or nonresident under this subchapter based on additional or changed information provided by the person.” However, per §21.24(g) “An individual whose initial purpose for moving to Texas is to attend an institution of higher education as a full-time student will be presumed not to have the required intent to make Texas his or her domicile; however, the presumption may be overruled by clear and convincing evidence” so this would introduce additional risk.
So (bearing in mind this advice is worth what you paid for it, i.e. nothing), what would need to be done is for your parents to help you buy an apartment (either gifting you the money or cosigning a mortgage and then giving you enough money that they won’t be supporting you on an ongoing basis in subsequent tax years while you attend college). One possibility to satisfy the tax independence criteria is to rent out a bedroom to another student to provide sufficient income (>50% of total support including your housing, living and tuition costs) and that would help because you would then be running a business in Texas too (another element of the domicile criteria). However, the rules leave room for some doubt that your evidence will not be “clear and convincing” (http://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=1&ch=21&rl=24)
Its all doable but requires parents with lots of spare money to gift to you and who are happy to take the risk of buying Austin property and the risk that you will ultimately be denied because you make a mistake. That may or may not be worth it to save at most $75K in OOS fees (3 of the 4 years you are in college if all went well). Generally if they have so much money that this becomes feasible, they should probably be able to afford the $75K…