<p>Georgia Tech has study abroad programs for its engineers and it’d be a school you could attend instead of UT Austin without fear of “wasting” your parents’ money.
Civil Engineering + Plan II + graduating in 4 years doesn’t seem very feasible though. Email Cockrell to ask whether it’s even possible to do Engineering Honors and Plan II since both are pretty regimented and have different requirements with much overlap (although you could always do Engineering “regular”, which is plenty demanding already, + Plan II).
I agree with the advice you should apply to Engineering Honors, but do apply to a few more schools if you want to discover another area of the country and meet people who don’t come from Texas. In any case, it’s good to have choices, so make sure you apply to several schools - I’d include UC Berkeley and Georgia Tech, plus perhaps one more college (perhaps a top private university).
This way, if you end up choosing UT, it’ll be a real choice after considering your options. That is important, too. 
But overall, yes, it sounds like UT is a great fit for you. :)</p>
<p>I’m confused by your “not wasting” statement. Is GTech going to cost the same or less as UT-Austin for the OP?</p>