<p>anxiousfather - Well, your son is very lucky to have parents that work that hard to ensure he has a good education. 
Sadly, not everyone has parents who want to (like in my case) or are capable of helping their kids. I don’t think anyone’s acting entitled - just disappointed, which is understandable.</p>
<p>My son had excellent stats, also. Yes, he got a lot of aid from Wash U, but it would still have been much more expensive for him to go there than what UT costs in-state. Wash U gave him $22k/year, but we still would have had to pay $30k/year! So if you’re in-state for Texas, consider yourself fortunate. You have a world-class institution for relatively inexpensive tuition. Here in Maine, in-state is more, and the schools aren’t on the same level.</p>
<p>I think all the hard work paid off well. UT Austin is a tremendous school and a veritable bargain for instate Texans. Not like it’s easy to get in there too. I have two nephews that would love to gain attendance there, but not a chance. For them, it’s a better chance to get into some selective privates than to UT due to the 10% situation.</p>
<p>Blooze</p>
<p>Hope you are able to figure out a way for your son to go to UT. My son has very similar stats, and unless some national merit or local scholarships come through, we are full-pay OOS for UT. Having said that, we toured a LOT of CS programs, my son applied to 3 top 10 programs, got into them, and would not even consider U of IL, our home flagship university. UT has a phenomenal program, and I hope it works out for your family.</p>
<p>anxiousfather - we don’t feel entitled to anything and I have no issue with helping the less fortunate. But we are disappointed that he has had to sacrifice much of his high school experience to get to where he is at, and to be honest, didn’t make any difference. Encouraging him to work hard and sacrifice didn’t get him anywhere as far as college is concerned. Now character for himself, that’s another matter. What he has taken away from the experience is that hard work may not really matter (of course we counter that sentiment as best we can) My wife and I both work as well. Both nearly full time while we were attending college full time and raising a family, so I know a thing or two about sacrifice as I didn’t get a dime from my parents and expected none. But college degree’s did not ensure us a good wage, far from it. Much of my family never went to college and makes more than we do. We’ve had to sacrifice just to make ends meet until last year, saving for college was unfortunately low in the budget compared to rent, food, transportation, and medical insurance. It’s our problem, and I’m not whining. Just stating the facts.</p>
<p>He will go to UT, of that I am sure, because we are willing to sacrifice over the next 10 years (read my earlier comments about not being able to contribute before) to make sure he gets the education he deserves. Local, 2nd rate schools are not an option when he is already instructing his “advanced science” teachers on how to program code. He’s already taught himself more than they know. That’s why he deserves to go to a quality school with a quality program; for the challenge to learn something new and the belief we have in him that he will do something great one day.</p>
<p>I hope that everyone else has much luck in their quest to got to UT!!!</p>
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<p>I am sorry that’s how you feel. Your S worked hard and he got in UT. Congrats! </p>
<p>Your S may want to consider to get a job on or off campus. He also may be able to borrow less by graduating in 3 years - if he claims enough credits for his major with qualified AP scores and/or take classes at CC during summer.</p>
<p>Every year UT admits many many bright and hardworking students and I am just proud that my S is there. He did not qualify for any FA and neither did many other highly qualified students. Some of these students chose to go somewhere else. But believe me your S’s hard work will pay off at UT because he may find himself well prepared academically and it is a PLUS!</p>
<p>Sunnydayfarm - You are correct. We are proud he has been accepted at UT!!! It will pay off in the long run, which is why we’ll make sure he goes. He will be working either on or off campus, we’ve already had that talk :)</p>
<p>It’s all good and thanks for the encouragement everyone!!!</p>
<p>It’s been hard for me. My parents cannot pay for UT, or any other school, and so it has been up to me to piece together scholarships and such. UT gave me $25,000 in loans to fund my education, and as much as I love UT, I can’t justify taking that expense on as I want to go to law school. It absolutely kills me, because I have worked extremely hard (4.0 GPA through dual credit classes, 2170 SAT/30 ACT, a ton of community service and extracurricular/leadership) in high school, but not a single scholarship or grant. </p>
<p>UT Dallas, on the other hand, has given me a full tuition/fees scholarship, and I’m interviewing for the Terry Scholarship there. I can afford to go there, and it has a pre-law program with moot court, mock trial, and mediation, all of which will serve to prepare me for law school. It may not have the “rank and prestige” of UT Austin, but it is a good school. As undergrad reputation doesn’t have effect on law school admissions, I refuse to graduate with $100,000+ in debt and then take on law school.</p>
<p>I don’t want to raise false hope, Blooze, but I had very similar stats to your son (slightly higher SAT, slightly lower GPA) and got a 5k/year scholarship and a departmental scholarship from the CS department. The Scholarship showed up on the my CASH page sometime in April, iirc, and the CS department randomly called me near the end of senior year to let me know that I had got that scholarship. So what I’m trying to say is don’t lose hope, it is possible that not all of the financial aid has been distributed yet.</p>
<p>@homeschooler2012 – I think you are making the right decision. There are so many kids out there who are struggling to pay back student loans.</p>
<p>I agree with cptofthehouse. There are lots of schools which offer great merit scholarships. Rice is another school which offers merit scholarships that I didn’t mention earlier. </p>
<p>Another option is to go to a school which offers more generous merit aid and transfer to UT later.</p>
<p>I do understand your son’s desire to go to UT and the benefits the program offers. My son is a PLan II /CS major. I’m not sure it would be worth going into debt for, however, if there was another school which he could attend without debt. Even if he didn’t get a job that paid as well, he might come out better in the long run financially if he didn’t have any debt. </p>
<p>I recently had a conversation with my physical therapist, a recent Emory graduate. She says it will take 7 years of her salary to pay off her debt. She could have gone to a much cheaper school and now wishes she had. The prestige of Emory wasn’t worth it to her in the long run. </p>
<p>CS grads are in demand. I suspect that a CS grad in the top of his class from most tier one schools will have plenty of job opportunities.</p>
<p>@Blooze-- your son might be able to get a job tutoring at UT. Those jobs pay about $10 / hour, I believe. I think the IT department at UT hires a lot of students as well. And there are internship opportunities for CS students after the first year, some of which pay $19/hour or more.</p>
<p>LOL @ this thread title. What horrible parenting. And everyone needs to stop saying that UT is a “world class institution.” With the exception of the engineering and b-schools, it’s not, not even close.</p>
<p>^while I will agree that many programs at UT are not worthy of such a prestigious distinction, the CS program, especially at the graduate level, is arguably up there. And I’m not sure what your problem is, but it would be wise to refrain from devaluing your degree so brazenly.</p>
<p>@USofPlutarchy - how do you get horrible parenting out of this situation? </p>
<p>UT’s CS program is in the top 10 as is UT’s film program.</p>
<p>@ Blooze: There are a lot of decent on-campus jobs. For example, my son is planning to work at the Sanger Center as a tutor next year–$10 per hour.<br>
I hear you about UT–a lot of people are shocked at the lack of scholarship money for anyone other than athletes. At Parents’ Weekend last October, there was a dad who kind of ranted all the way through the Engineering & Chem E presentations about how there was no money for smart, talented students who might one day cure cancer or develop a viable alternative energy source, but there was plenty of money to pay Mack Brown $5 million (no one even had the heart to tell him it’s actually a lot more than that).<br>
I totally agree, but it is what it is. UT’s stinginess is nothing new (they were cheapskates back in my day too), and that fact should have been apparent with a little research. Common sense dictates that the current recession/depression is placing even more demands on those limited dollars. FYI, my son had better stats than your son and he got zero merit aid from Chem E–as we knew would most likely happen.
All of that being said, anxiousfather is right. Your son is lucky to have been admitted, especially in such a competitive major. He’ll be getting a top-notch education at less than half the price of attending an Ivy or a West Coast school and, yes, the contacts and friendships he makes there might really be beneficial. Best of luck --</p>
<p>This is how much UT pays Mack Brown [Mack</a> Brown’s Salary | Government Employee Salaries | The Texas Tribune](<a href=“Government Salaries Explorer | The Texas Tribune”>Government Salaries Explorer | The Texas Tribune)</p>
<p>It should be a well known fact that the football program is completely self sufficient. In fact, a portion of the profits that UT athletics makes is taken to fund academic programs. We do not fund the athletics program; it funds itself (with a sweet $300 million contract with ESPN among other things).</p>
<p>Zinala - thanks for the heads up about there possibly being some on-campus job opportunities,</p>
<p>We knew that the scholarship opportunities were going to be slim, but were hoping that he might receive something departmental if nothing else. Ah well. We will make do with what we’ve been given and be happy that he has been accepted into the CS program. He’ll do fine and so will we.</p>
<p>Usofpluarchy…you are a piece of work…Im going to go out on a limb here and guess that you have no idea what bad or good parenting is…</p>
<p>UT ranks among the highest in the country in many of it’s undergraduate and graduate programs including Engineering, Business, CS, Accounting, Advertising, PR, Film School, as well as many more.<br>
It is considered a “Public Ivy”…the fact that it is a PUBLIC school that is VERY hard to get into, makes financial aide very hard to come by…which is the case for most of the best Public Universities in the country right now. The funding is just not there. </p>
<p>Quite frankly, UT has so many students that would pay much much more to go there, if they could just get in. UT doesn’t have to give scholarships because so many students and parents are willing to pay “full freight” to attend there.</p>
<p>OP…your son’s hard work did pay off…he just might not be able to see the tangible benefits right now. His degree from UT will be very valuable in the future. There are many, many more students ,that have very good stats and worked REALLY hard, that did not get in to UT.
I feel your frustration and I hope you and your family can find a way to make it work!
Good Luck and Hook-em!!</p>
<p>Well, I hope you’ve changed your mind about the title of this thread. Grades and hard work netted your son a great college acceptance.</p>
<p>Well done, Blooze Son.</p>