<p>I am a prospective student and am wondering if scholarships are hard to come by at UT. I have heard rumors that Austin gives out next to nothing when it comes to financail aid.</p>
<p>Those rumors are correct. </p>
<p>Though it also depends on the student and their financial situation. I was in the top 5% of my class with plenty of AP classes and extracurriculars, along with low income, and I only got a $5000 scholarship along with a small grant and the rest loans. While a friend of mine with slightly higher grades got $20K over 4 years. </p>
<p>Overall though, from what i’ve seen, a lot of students have been getting very little, and it’s not just at UT but at other public schools in Texas as well. Don’t blame the school, blame the economy, the state government, and the awful governor.</p>
<p>Cockrell (engineering) seems to be pretty good about giving out scholarships. Other schools, not so much.</p>
<p>I think Cockrell gives out decent amounts for in-state residents, but not OOS ones. My OOS son got a one-time, $1,000 award last year. An OOS young woman who was interested in attending UT this fall and who had EXCELLENT stats, received nothing, so she will not be coming.</p>
<p>Cockrell has been generous in the past, but not so much now. This year, my in-state S (incoming freshman) got bupkis, even with very good stats. Ditto the other kids from his HS who were admitted. Some got loans, due to low expected family contributions, but no one got any free money other than a Pell grant (which comes from the federal gov’t for very low income students). No one got a single dime from Cockrell. One guy decided to go to Rice because it was going to cost him less, with his financial aid package from there, even though Rice costs nearly twice as much. I did hear of one applicant who got a one-time offer of $2500–and he was a NMS.</p>
<p>Moral of the story: don’t count on any scholarship money from Cockrell unless you are a very top applicant, and even then it won’t be much. There are quite a few University scholarships, but most of them are need-based.</p>
<p>Thanks for the anecdotes, zinala. Wow, things have changed in just one year!</p>
<p>They really have! We have friends whose kids started at UT several years ago–almost all the ones who were admitted to Cockrell got at least a little something, and a couple of really great applicants got generous scholarships. That’s all over with, thanks to the crummy economy.</p>
<p>I was a val with a 2250 SAT… got 5k per year (presidential), 2500 from cockrell for being in Engineering Honors, and the rest loans.</p>
<p>yes, you can count on almost nothing in terms of grant money unless you have a very low EFC… as for scholarships, cockrell is probably the best, but as you can see i fared better in the “general” scholarship pool than in cockrell’s, so perhaps their funds aren’t so great at this point either.</p>
<p>Michael, are you an incoming freshman?</p>
<p>Don’t in-state vals still get free tuition? I did, back in 1980. Of course, my total tuition bill for each semester was about $60, lol (15 hours times $4/hour). I can’t remember if fees were paid for, also. I remember that the typical student’s bill each semester was about $250.</p>
<p>@MainLonghorn</p>
<p>Oh, if only the prices were not so inflated today. I wish I could have lived in Austin back in the 80s but I was still non-existent for another twelve years. To see Slacker being filmed around West Campus would have been great!*</p>
<p>*Everyone at UT should see Slacker, especially residents of West Campus. Brings lots of nostalgia to this neighborhood.</p>
<p>Why does anyone think they are owed money from the government (state or otherwise) in the form of scholarships and financial aid? That money doesn’t come out of thin air. Exactly who should open their wallets to educate your children? We already are on the hook for K-12. College is priviledge, NOT A RIGHT!!!</p>
<p>Parents: you had 18 years to save money for your kids education. We all knew this day would come and it would be up to us (the parents) to provide for our kids’ education. And so, we sucked it up and saved. </p>
<p>Students: I am sorry if your parents could not or would not sacrifice for you. Good news: You can put yourself thru college. Live on campus in the dorm and eat the cafeteria food. Or, save even more and live in one of the College Houses Co-Ops. Most importantly, get a job!!! Einstein Bagels on the Drag is hiring. Jester and Kinsolving are hiring for food service. Get to work! Also, there is always (shocker) living at home and starting out at a community college. </p>
<p>Again, attending UT Austin is a privilege, not a RIGHT. I am truly sorry for the students who have worked so hard only to find that their parents didn’t hold up their end. Where could the college saving have gone? New cars, electronics, vacations, alcohol, ciagarettes, drugs, and the huge expense: DIVORCE!</p>
<p>Governor Perry’s fault? Not this time.</p>
<p>eaglemom, I don’t think students are saying they are OWED money. It just makes sense to compare options based on the net cost of each school. I do think it’s a shame that the EXCELLENT student who was excited about UT was offered NO scholarship money, so now she will be attending a public university up north, who gave her a nice package. That is UT’s loss! She would have been one of my dad’s students, and he was disappointed to hear the news.</p>
<p>Everybody’s financial situation varies, too. I know that some people have frittered away their money, but a lot of folks are struggling to survive. My husband and I own our own business, and it’s been tough lately. We’ve also faced huge, unexpected medical bills for our oldest son. We have two more kids to get through college, so I’m hoping they are able to get some merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Just my two cents!</p>
<p>Oh, I’m definitely not worried about losing out of state students, or foreign students, no matter how excellent they are. UT has many excellent students to chose from. Many excellent students were denied any admission. Many were CAP’d. No worries at all there. We don’t need to subsidize out of state students to boost our student quality, when so much talent is already being turned away. </p>
<p>The State of Texas must balance our budget. In lean years, we must spend less. In prosperous years, we invest and save for less prosperous times. If only the Feds would figure this out we’d not be in the current mess. But that’s another topic.</p>
<p>Engineering Scholarship from Cockrell lost all of its funding.</p>
<p>source: [The</a> Cuts: A Breakdown | The Daily Texan](<a href=“http://www.dailytexanonline.com/image/2011/06/30/cuts-breakdown]The”>http://www.dailytexanonline.com/image/2011/06/30/cuts-breakdown)</p>
<p>eaglemom10: Your point of view frightens me. When you claim that education is a privilege and not a right, that our government shouldn’t be responsible for educating our youth, that really makes me worried.</p>
<p>For UT to continue to be considered a world-class institution, it needs to attract outstanding talent from around the country and world. If it becomes a “regional” college, it will only hurt its reputation, and thus make its degrees less valuable.</p>
<p>Hey, I totally agree with eaglemom. She’s right–everyone has at least 18 years to figure out how to pay for college, and also to be honest and up front with your child as to what you can and can’t afford. I also agree that too many people think college, and college funding, is an entitlement. Nope.</p>
<p>Some people really do have unavoidable bad things happen to them, like job loss or medical bills, and my heart goes out to them. However, most of the people I know who are grumbling the loudest about college costs are the ones who bought way more house than they could afford, drove around in huge expensive vehicles, took fancy vacations every year, acquired every new electronic consumer product that came along, and did not save one dime for their children’s college education. Where did they think the money for that was going to come from? My S. has several friends who were very disappointed that they could not go to their dream schools because, while their parents had encouraged them to attend those schools, they saved no money to pay for college. Very, very sad.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m glad I eschewed most of the cool “stuff” in favor of a college fund. A merit scholarship would have been really nice, especially as an acknowledgement of my S.'s HS achievements, and would have been pretty much a given even a couple of years ago, but I’m glad we didn’t bank on it.</p>
<p>The other thing to keep in mind about awarding OOS scholarships - this year, an OOS student in engineering pays over $23,000/year more than an in-state student. So even if you give that student a $10,000/year scholarship, he/she is still paying $13,000/year more than the in-state student. UT gets an excellent student who is STILL paying more than the in-state student. That seems like a win-win situation to me.</p>
<p>While I understand both sides of the argument, I would also like to add my own two cents…</p>
<p>I don’t believe that most students think of college as a right. If you asked most students what college is, they would probably say something about the extra education allowing for a better future. So though most students aren’t spoiled to the point that they feel entitled to go, I do feel like many still don’t recognize the fact that it is a privilege.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, a good handful of kids (not all!) just expect to go because, well, everyone seems to go. Many aren’t ready to make the huge jump into the “real world” after high school and simply use college as a convenient way to still act young and have fun. It’s convenient because they often attend on someone else’s expense or they pull out loans that seem inconsequential to them. I feel that our society has turned college into a de facto necessity (even though it is not) and that many students would feel like failures if they did not go. Attending a college of some sort after high school seems like the only choice for many students (at least for the middle and upper class kids that I’ve grown up with).</p>
<p>I don’t have much of a problem with this but I get disturbed when I find out that Mrs. Party is getting $2000 in grants to pay for classes and then feels “obligated” to show up to them. $2000 is a lot of money! I know that college is one of the last times you can really live freely and enjoy life but if you’re getting paid by the government to go, you should be HAPPY to go to class. I’ve seen too many of these students just throwing federal aid down the drain. Many flat out do not care. It’s pitiful, really. </p>
<p>I have many friends getting this same aid that are pulling solid grades along with a real job to cover the remainder of their tuition. These students deserve the money infinitely more than their “peers” because they actually appreciate it! After these cuts, I can’t help but let out a slight sigh of relief -as wrong as it may be- to know that some of those funds won’t be wasted any longer. I’m not asking everyone to turn into ultra-competitive gunners; just DO YOUR HOMEWORK if someone else’s money is paying you to!</p>
<p>I firmly believe in scholarships and grants being doled out to those who are in need but I feel that there needs to be more stringent scholarship renewal standards or checks to ensure that the money isn’t being wasted. I know as a fact that a lot of it is being wasted and would be put to much better use if it were reapportioned to more qualified students. My girlfriend pulled a 20 hour work schedule on top of frequent volunteering and her classes yet she still spent a strong majority of her free time studying to pull off the A’s she wanted. I firmly believe that students like her deserve the federal grant money and the B-on-Time loans she was receiving. It’s when she calls me on the verge crying after they strip almost all of her funding away that I feel the need to reorganize the system.</p>
<p>I know that it sucks that a lot of deserving students lost money they really could have used but I feel like something needed to happen eventually. Too much of it was being wasted. </p>
<p>(and one more log gets added to an imminent flame war, sorry MaineLonghorn)</p>
<p>I only post on here because I like to help those who are willing to first help themselves (by posting). I feel like a lot of what’s wrong with America right now is embedded in our society. The government can only do so much. It can pump billions into our education system but if our students refuse to move school at least 1 spot up their list of priorities then most of our efforts will be wasted. I hope it doesn’t take too many more budget cuts for everyone to realize this.</p>
<p>“Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.”
-John F. Kennedy</p>
<p>frever, I agree with you that a lot of students don’t appreciate the aid they’re receiving. I don’t think that description applies, though, to TOP OOS students who have worked VERY hard in high school and want to study engineering at UT.</p>
<p>I don’t mind the debate! I really am interested in UT keeping its place as one of the best universities in the world. If the doors are shut to excellent OOS students, that standing is definitely jeopardized.</p>
<p>I haven’t posted on CC for years, but have to chime in on this topic. A college education is not a right/entitlement. My parents sacrificed to put me through school and I had to work to finance graduate school. I viewed being an undergrad as a privilege and felt I owed something to my folks for footing the bill. Since grad school was on my dime, I somehow felt the need to get my money’s worth.</p>
<p>I believe the original spirit of the thread had to do with the scarcity of merit scholarships. In 2007, my son received $13k as a NMF and $24k from Cockrell in the Engineering Honors Program. While his academic credentials from high school were outstanding, I’m glad he matriculated into UT before all of the merit based funding was eliminated. Many universities throughout the country still give generous merit awards. In this day and age, I don’t blame a student for sacrificing a little “prestige” for a substantial financial incentive to attend another institution.</p>
<p>To avoid becoming parochial, we do need to attract talented students from across the nation or risk losing national prominence/prestige. While I don’t want to get into the discussion of the 10% auto admit (what is it now - 7%?), UT simply cannot attract enough of the best and brightest under this system. I make this assertion as an Hispanic of Mexican descent. I am saddened that hard work, dedication and excellent results in high school no longer yield merit based rewards.</p>