Does UT Austin give a lot of financial aid to OOS students?
No, UT Austin is not known to be a generous school. Merit aid is very limited and need based financial aid includes a lot of loans.
@GTAustin is correct. Aid is not something to rely on with UT and OOS applicants. However, for outstanding candidates from outside of Texas (top 1% type test scores, with close to 800 SAT subject tests, national awards or extraordinary circumstances, experience, athletics), there are departmental and of course 40 Acres are scholarship potentials.
My son is testament that it does happen.
It definitely can happen, but out of state applicants considering UT should be ready to foot the total cost of attendance. Texas can also be more difficult than other states to establish residency. One reason they are not so generous with OOS financial aid is receiving a scholarship exceeding $1,000 would likely qualify that student for in-state tuition. In practice, this means a $2,000 could knock ten times that amount off the tuition.
Actually, Texas is one of the easier states to establish residency. It takes a year. They even have an office that guides you through the process. Student needs to Either Buy a home, Start a company, or get an off campus job for 20 hours a week. Need to spend summer in Texas. It is done by many sstudents…My D did it.
Haha if that’s easy nowadays, I hate to see what difficult is? I don’t know of too many students who can buy a house or start their own company. I know of a few students who’s parents bought property, though.
For the gainful employment clause, if you are claimed as a dependent by your parents, they must also reside in Texas. Otherwise, they have to claim as independent. I dunno enough about how that works - tax professional territory.
Here is the information.
"If you are independent for tax purposes, you may gain resident status if you establish domicile in the state. 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.
To establish domicile, you or your parent(s) must meet the following criteria:
Live in Texas for 12 consecutive months; and
Establish and maintain domicile for 12 consecutive months, as evidenced by:
Gainful employment in Texas;
Note: Student jobs do not qualify as gainful employment.
Sole or joint marital ownership of residential real property in Texas by the person seeking to enroll or the dependent’s parent, having established and maintained a domicile at the residence;
Ownership and operation of a business in Texas; or
Marriage for one year to a person who has established domicile in Texas."
https://admissions.utexas.edu/residency#fndtn-residency-establishing-domicile-requirements
Many people have bought houses and rented them out. You can make money doing it. We did. We used the excess rent to pay down the mortgage. Over 4 years between increase in value, and paying down mortgage, we were 25,000 ahead. Plus saving on tuition. Amazing opportunity for OOS kids. We bought a house for just under 100k. Also, the size of the business is not critical according to the office of Residency. When there is a will, there is a way
Many OOS students’ families will receive flyers from real estate companies that specialize in selling real estate particularly to establish in-state residency. Setting up a LLC company in Texas can be done online in minutes. Worth looking into, considering both the real estate market in Austin is robust and student apartments / homes close to campus are in high demand. The UT residency office is in fact very helpful–they provide a checklist (online) of requirements needed to be met to establish domicile and advise in person eagerly and accordingly–they help by being positive on what one needs to do NOT why you cannot be a Texas resident. The process itself is not really unlike any other state for residency purposes, but Buddha Bless the Free State of Texas–they know how to draw the best and brightest as well as companies to Texas.
I have a question about residency as well.
If I’m a dependant of my parents, and my parents and I move to texas, if one parent gets a full time job in texas, but does not buy a home and rents an apartment instead, will I qualify for residency as long as we stay there for at least a year?
Yes, I think so. Residency is not based on ownership of property but establishing domicile. Did you review the residency checklist from the Residency Office and establish contact to ask this question? You should.
As @EngPII mentioned, calling the or e-mailing the residency office directly is always the best approach. I’m not very good with these questions, and wasn’t when I worked for UT. Everything is so specialized, anytime I got inquiries about it, I directed people there.
I think she is still there, but here was our internal go-to contact: deana.williams@austin.utexas.edu. E-mail is always best with Deana.
This is a very interesting thread. The challenge as an OOS applicant is getting accepted from OOS if one currenctly lives in and is graduating from a HS in another state…which in and of itself is the biggest hurdle given then OOS percentage limits by Texas state law.
As parents we have already considered this possibility and would support the effort to establish residency, however, to commit to real estate purchases etc. BEFORE acceptance isn’t an option. Thus, the first year would be at OOS rates no matter what.
@EngPII Is it feasible to start the in state residency process (purchase, rental/lease, business establishment) say in June/summer prior to starting freshman year and qualify for in state tuition by sophomore Fall semester?
@Meant2B, yes you can start in that time frame. The Residence office only considers applications for residency in August and (I think) Jan. So any time before August would give you the 12 months.
If your student is accepted, you will start receiving mailings from a few of the real estate / property management folks that specialize in exactly this–selling or renting real estate for establishing residency for OOS students. Clever business model really, with the added incentive being the savings of $25k per year in tuition cost (after year 1). They will provide a lot of advice on working with the excellent residency office.
Note that at UTD, UTSA… If you get a scholarship oos tuition is automatically waived.
Thanks @EngPII very helpful.
Do you think I would qualify for any of those scholarships with these stats @KevinRMartin ?
Public school in PA
Rank: 4/465
GPA: 4.662 weighted
SAT: 1570
ACT: 35
AP Scores: Calc AB, Chem, Lang, Macro, Micro 5. World 4
Extracurriculars:
Varsity Tennis 3 years (spring sport), captain 1 year
German Club secretary
Math Club
CCD Teaching (volunteer) 100 hr
Work as dishwasher since July
I know it’s probably a stretch regardless of stats…