I was admitted to UT off the wait list for the school of undergraduate studies (my first choice major was unavailable and I only had a list of liberal arts majors) I received my financial aid today. 3k pell grant a year and 23k student loans a year. I was absolutely shocked, as my efc is only 2500 and my mother who supports our family of 4 only makes 45k a year. Is this normal, for ut to expect people to take 80k in loans? Do I have a case or something to bring up, and what can be done?
@selhajj1 I have the exact same question. Although I did get more grant money, I still can’t afford the loans that they expect us to take out considering my parents low income.
Damn they did you dirty. Colleges these days seem to screw the lower and middle class.
Admits from the WL are less likely to get good aid, unless the school claims to fully meet demonstrated need. Whatever you do, don’t take 80k in loans. Take a gap year and reapply, perhaps to a different set of schools (your family income is sufficiently low to get a full or near-full ride at many schools if you have the stats for admission), or defer your admission and do a year or two at community college.
@yauponredux is spot on. There shouldn’t be any surprise in aid. There are merit scholarships (few) and need-based scholarships (fewer) from UT and its colleges and departments–no different at other schools nationally that do not guarantee a award up to a family’s EFC. If awarded a merit or need-based scholarship, you would already know. The rest are loan opportunities / burden.
23,000 per year is a lot more than 80K. It is more than 90K. Coming out of school with that kind of debt would be staggering. Where else did you get in? What did those schools offer you?
@Fredjan
I believe it is normal for people to buy what they can afford.
If you cannot afford Ferrari you don’t buy it, even with loans. If you cannot afford a castle you don’t buy it, even with mortgage.
It is the same with your college education.
You are buying it. You are a customer. Buy what you can afford.
Or Texas could fund it’s state universities so the poorest students could afford the flagship if they perform well enough to get admitted.
It would seem with what they charge OOS they should be better able to support IS kids:(
It is not easy to explain financial problems politely, so probably my post will be rude. I apologize in advance.
- When students get into UT UGS from a wait list it is very unlikely that they will make it to Business, Engineering, Nursing, or CNS/Geology. It happens, but it is extremely rare because the cut off GPA is very high, and you practically have to forget about any social life and "dream college experience" and study-study-study.
- Students who get into other colleges (or even some CNS majors), IF they get employed right after university with paid salary and not some kind of unpaid internship, will be lucky to get $ 30-35 000 as starting salary (unless they have parents with connections who can help them with well paid job). Proof # 1 http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2016/03/31/youll-never-guess-the-biggest-factor-in-graduate-salaries/#3d60d5243091 Proof # 2 is UT Austin website. Go to career centers of different colleges and find statistics about salaries of recent graduates.
- When you graduate and get your first paid job with salary, you will get much less money due to taxes. http://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/ For example, in Texas if your salary is $35,000 a year after paying federal taxes, social security, and medicare you will get only $27,873.75 a year, it is $2,322.82 a month. You will need extra money for medical insurance, I doubt you will be able to afford any retirement plan. Plus all usual expenses - housing, utilities, transportation, food, clothes, household items....
- When you pay back your Stafford loan with interest it will be probably twice as much as the original amount. Here is your calculator https://www.cfnc.org/Gateway Standard period to pay off the loan is 10 years. Since with 80,000 loan the monthly payment will be more than $500, you will need to sign for some kind of special repayment plan, you can extend it til 20 or 30 years, depending on your salary.
Just do all your math.
In my very humble opinion it will be very stupid and irresponsible to attend UT Austin is these circumstances.
But the choice is, of course, yours.
@“Ya Ya”
My point is that it’s actually common for UT to expect families to pay full freight. This usually happens with families that do not qualify for the Pell Grant.
This scenario is strange in that the student qualified for Pell but still needs to borrow a very large sum of money for his education. Last year, 0 EFC students were being offered over $16k by a combination of federal and state grants and a low-tier Presidential Achievement Scholarship.
I do agree that it would be irresponsible to attend UT given these finances. OP should attend a school where his loans will be kept at minimum.
Last year 0 EFC students with Presidential Achievement scholarship most likely had exceptional class rank, grades and test scores. It is pretty common that UT gives students like this financial aid better than ivies do.
A couple of years ago I talked to a guy who was in top 6% of his very noncompetitive Texas school with some Cs and SAT below UT average. He was accepted to UT Austin as an UGS student. His EFC was very low, not exactly 0, but not much above it, and he got Pell grant and loans only. His family declined the offer, and the guy went to community college where he struggled with Math and Physics classes and changed his mind about being an engineer. When I talked to him he told me that it was good he did not go to UT Austin, he would most likely drop out with loan payments due almost immediately. He told me he felt lucky he did not make a big mistake.
EFC 0 alone doesn’t entitle you to a lot of financial aid.
EFC 0 + exceptional academic ability (way above average EFC 0 student) usually do.
Need based UT scholarships are also merit based ( ALWAYS ), and they serve as recruitment tool to attract students that UT really wants. Really, really wants.
@Ya Ya Thanks for the explanation. But my loans are honestly not gonna be much at UT compared to the other schools I applied to such as Baylor and Tech. The majority of my loans my parents will take care of so that leaves me with around 8K left in loans which isn’t all that bad.
I got a Provost scholarship and a Merit scholarship at other schools I applied to, the only thing that ruined my chance of getting more aid was my SAT as my GPA is a 4.6 and I’m 38/570.
@Mandyyy
Let’s hope you don’t have any younger siblings with big college loans that your parents will not be able to afford later.
Let’s hope your parents will be able to pay these loans off before they retire.
You did not have any financial safeties on your list of colleges.
Well, what’s done is done.
Jobs on campus. https://hr.utexas.edu/student/finding_student_job.html
RA positions for next year http://www.utexas.edu/student/housing/index.php?site=19&scode=0&id=2288
Summer job (if you don’t do FRI summer job) https://orientation.utexas.edu/student-leadership-opportunities
If you decide to live off campus
Texas students housing scholarship http://www.texasstudenthousing.net/
SMART housing (Pell eligible qualify) https://austinresidence.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1565373-what-is-smart-housing-) All apartment complexes have some. I don’t know how to find them. Ask current students. They have to be booked early like before Christmas for the next school year. But you can get lucky in some new apartments, I guess.
Continuing students scholarships https://cns.utexas.edu/honors/scholarships
Apply for work study in your FAFSA next time.
Biology is not a good major to find a well paid job with Bachelor degree. Consider some type of CS/Statistics certificate or graduate school.
I almost forgot. There is ROTC. You can join next year. http://www.utexas.edu/cola/arotc/rotc-scholarships/eligibility.php
Are you out-of-state are do you live in Texas? I applied out of New York and got accepted pretty easily, but they expected me to pay full tuition for all 4 years. All $160,000 presented in loans, with $10,000 EFC.
To tell you the truth, I chalked it up to UT Austin not liking non-Texans, but maybe they just try to wreck everybody. I don’t know, but I definitely agree with everyone that your plight is completely outrageous. I’m very sad that it’s like this, and I don’t know how to help you. I would suggest A&M or maybe a more generous UT, but I’m not a native Texan. I’m sorry.
Maybe consider A&M where financial aid seems to be more generous (for a wider student group not just super high stats or 0 EFC).
Generous merit aid (at UT only for super high stats), a very generous aid package for National Merit Finalists (UT has none) and also aid for low income.
Read about The “Aggie Assurance” http://financialaid.tamu.edu/Aggie-Assurance
A&M has a fantastic Engineering Program just like UT does. Other programs are good too. So, the school is another option in TX besides our flagship school.
^yes, great advice about Aggie Assurance in above post. If your mom makes under $60k you should qualify.
I am surprised that you did not get a Texas state grant since you are Pell eligible.
Also see what aid Prairie View would offer you.
Might have to take a gap year and reapply next year.
But check if Texas A&M is still accepting applications.