Texas Financial Aid Among Worst in the Nation

Parent Cafe
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Texas ranks last in per capita spending for college grants among the 10 most populous states, according to the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs.

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<p>Financial</a> aid fix raises concerns about poorer students | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle</p>

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Amid growing public grumbling over the rising cost of college, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board will vote this week on whether to restructure the state's financial aid programs.</p>

<p>The most controversial change would raise academic standards for the Texas Grant program, which helps low-income students pay for college.</p>

<p>Other proposed changes include merging two smaller aid programs with Texas Grant and raising the income level at which students qualify.</p>

<p>That has some people worried middle-class students will receive aid at the expense of those from poor families.</p>

<p>"In a state that desperately needs to close the gaps ... this widens the gaps," said state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, one of the original sponsors of the Texas Grant.</p>

<p>The program now serves students from families earning $39,000 or less who complete the "recommended" high school curriculum..

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<p>Financial</a> aid panel emphasizes TEXAS Grant program | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

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Texas needs to make good again on its pledge to help low-income students pay for college, a group of campus financial aid directors and other experts said Thursday.</p>

<p>They called for the Legislature to put enough money into the TEXAS Grant program – the state's largest source of need-based college aid – so that every eligible student receives an award. </p>

<p>They praised TEXAS Grants, which provide $5,170 a year to needy students who take a college-prep curriculum in high school. But they lamented that since 2004, the state hasn't spent enough money to cover all eligible students. Some campuses report that less than half of students who qualify for the grant actually get it.

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<p>Are low-income Texas college students being shortchanged with bad financial aid offers? How can the state show a greater commitment to making college an affordable and viable option to its growing indigent population?</p>

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<p>They don’t care. </p>

<p>Not a whit. No merit aid to speak of. No need-based aid, either. For most kids, even top kids - Nada. Zip . Zero. There may be a chintzier state but I don’t know which one it would be. This is one reason (along with Top 10%) why you will see a large Texas contingent at some pretty far-flung schools. All the while UT has a very conservatively estimated pile of gold that could make college more affordable to all. It also appears to make a nice chair because they are certainly sitting on it.</p>

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<p>Sad. Many Western States that are oil and natural gas producers have huge budget surpluses. Some are doing it right and putting that money into education and increasing opportunity. Others seem to be missing the opportunity the $$ represent.</p>

<p>I know North Dakotaa nd Wyoming are looking at a Billion dollar surplus this year. Montana is over 210 million surplus. Wyo in particular is heavily investing in education.</p>

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<p>It was a lot cheaper to send D to Amherst than to UT. The problem was the FA. Basically, there is none. Vals get first year free, but then… Of course, the tuition is still low, so those lower income kids who live near a state branch can take classes and live at home. And while AT has a huge endowment, the state just keeps upping the tuition. They used to have the TX Tomorrow Plan, where you could prepay tuition in today dollars. It has been closed to new participants for a few years. It is still around only to manage the funds of the participants who joined prior to the deadline.</p>

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<p>with all due respect, my Texas friends, your plight is not as bad as it seems. </p>

<p>“Vals get first year free” sounds like merit to me. (Not available at UC.)</p>

<p>In addition, Texas does in fact offer merit scholarships, albeit some may just be a few k for national merit. (Not avail at UC)</p>

<p>[Texas</a> Scholarships: Our Goals](<a href=“97精品伊人久久大香线蕉_免费无码国产精品视频一区_美国精品中文无码_av无码精品久热”>97精品伊人久久大香线蕉_免费无码国产精品视频一区_美国精品中文无码_av无码精品久热)</p>

<p>Note, for a family with a ZERO efc, UC expects them to pony up ~$10k per year (and increasing). Anyone know what UT’s policy is for zero efc’ers?</p>

<p>And, yes, there are some private colleges and unis where need-based finaid (not merit) make it cheaper to attend than the instate public.</p>

<p>btw: I was really shocked to see that UT’s COA is as high as a UC. UT system used to be dirt-cheap… Where did the petro dollars go?</p>

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<p>Don’t y’all have the Regent’s? I’m not really familiar as California state schools were never in her future. And remember, val in Texas is not like some places where there are 20 vals. It’s one kid even if the school is 5000 students.</p>

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<p>"They don’t care. Not a whit. No merit aid to speak of. No need-based aid, either. For most kids, even top kids - Nada. Zip . Zero. "</p>

<p>Like most states, unfortunately …</p>

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<p>Ohio State offers great merit aid to try to keep top Ohio students in Ohio!</p>

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<p>cur:</p>

<p>yeah, UC’s do offer Regent’s, but the money and selected students are extremely limited. At Cal, for example, a Regent’s scholar earns a huge $500.00 discount, unless they have financial need. At UCLA, I think it’s between $1000-1500, but the real biggie is priority for parking passes. :slight_smile: The other UCs may offer up to full tuition to a few hundred kids per year per campus.</p>

<p>Yeah, but that ONE kid still earns a full ride, correct? (Better than a poke in the eye.)</p>

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<p>Yeah, but that ONE kid still earns a full ride, correct? (Better than a poke in the eye.)</p>

<p>Nope. Just a tuition discount for one year. That’s it.</p>

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<p>Tx. schools have more than one valedictorian, or rather can … and do in many places.</p>

<p>Excerpt from the Houston Chronicle:</p>

<p>“Other top twins include S. and K. O. and T. and C. V., among 25 co-valedictorians at Memorial High School in Spring Branch ISD. Memorial’s Class of 2008 received diplomas in ceremonies last weekend.”</p>

<p>Note the “among 25 co-valedictorians” comment. Heard a U of ND admissions rep mention express frustration with TX schools - the young lady in question was number one in her class - one of seventy number ones.</p>

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<p>They can have as many name -only valedictorians as they want, only one (or in limited instances 2) can be certified by the high school as “the highest ranking graduate” for the purpose of receiving the tuition exemption being discussed.</p>

<p>[TEA</a> Correspondence Item](<a href=“http://www.tea.state.tx.us/taa/healthsafety040308.html]TEA”>http://www.tea.state.tx.us/taa/healthsafety040308.html)</p>

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<p>

UT-Austin has some money for merit aid, especially for NMF. I know my son (commended - missed NMF by a point or two) was offered about 3/4 tuition & fees, renewable each year. Didn’t cover R&B, etc, but I was favorably impressed. Rice U is costing us about the same as UT, and he is loving it. :slight_smile:
I know Texas Tech offered him basically a full-ride between the automatic scholarship and an endowed one, and there would have been lots of merit aid at UT-Dallas, had he cared to apply - so there is merit aid in the systems.</p>

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<p>ok, cur, full tuition for one year is better than nothing, which is what Cal-Berkeley essentially offers…</p>

<p>Unfortunately, funding college ed is not popular with the left or right. The conservatives are generally against the taxes to pay for it, and the liberals are against merit money (which tends to ‘advantage the advantaged’), at least that has been the case in Calif.</p>

<p>Maybe Phil Gramm was right. :)</p>

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<p>I don’t have any info re: cost of public education and availability of scholarships in Texas.
The only time I’ve encountered the idea of a high school having more than one Val was in print, Michele Hernandez, “A is For Admission”. From this I had the impression that Texas was the poster child for multiple Vals.
Still a Lake Wobegon concept to me, but apparently Texas has earned a reputation.</p>

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<p>We are paying <em>much</em> less for Rice than we would have for UT. On top of the 1 tuition-free year for Val, D was offered only $1,200 additional merit aid (not guaranteed for subsequent years) and they never acknowledged her NMS status.</p>

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<p>We are also paying less for oos at UNC-CH than for instate at UT-Austin, even after taking into account the NM merit money Texas would have awarded our daughter. However, I can say Texas A&M offered very generous merit money…stacked two major scholarships and added three smaller ones that added up to an amount that would have covered 7 semesters completely. (ldgirl was not impressed, unfortunately.) </p>

<p>But I’m with curmudgeon. I don’t know what the problem is over at UT. Mine was Nat’l Hispanic Scholar and NMF…but UT would only allow her one of the guaranteed awards. Stingy is putting in mildly. Maybe after they get into the oil and gas business, they’ll loosen the purse strings a little. ;)</p>

<p>btw - when you have schools with 1200 in a graduating class, you will tend to get dozens of #1s with identical GPAs. In our district, they do not designate official valedictorian(s). Students can share the #1 rank, but no one gets the title.</p>

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<p>I think we need to divide Texas public Uni’s into two groups, UT-TAMU and everything else. UT-TAMU give minimal merit aid, as apparently they do not need to attract high-stat kids – having enough already without discounts. Others like UTD are pretty generous, apparently in an effort to attract the high flyers to improve the schools’ stats. </p>

<p>One family I know sent one to SMU and two to USoCal for far less than what it would have cost at UT-TAMU. All three could have had full rides at UTD and lived at home, but, of course, “no way.”</p>

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<p>I agree with ldmom about the A&M scholarships - they were generous. But I was very worried about the “You may also qualify for…” in front of so many of them. D was not interested in attending A&M and only applied because we insisted. And I know one NMS at A&M who missed the required GPA (3.5) by the smallest degree and lost a sizeable amount of $ for the rest of his undergrad.</p>

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<p>I am confused - I just looked up 2008-2009 UTexas tuition and fees. For in-state tuition it is in the $4000-$4500 range per semester. $8000-$9000/year.
Is that correct?</p>