Does anyone know if any scholarships beyond auto scholarships (like volunteer or need based) have been awarded? Curious if anyone received a Chancellor’s scholarship or competitive and departmental scholarships? If not, does anyone know the timeline for those being announced? Is it in March? So far my son has the 18K volunteer and admit to Honors college but hoping for maybe a little more even though that’s probably a slim probability. For reference, we will not qualify for any need-based aid.
I haven’t heard of anyone getting those. My experience with UTK is that those are not plentiful and many of the listed scholarships are awarded to the kids in the Haslam Leadership Scholars program.
Not that it helps now but my recent UTK graduate always picked up various extra scholarships every semester for departmental and extracurricular things. $1000 here or there every semester from filling out the general scholarship application every year and campus organizations.
Thanks for the feedback! I figured as much but good to know how the process works. I fear the off campus housing cost will go beyond what we budget. What did your kiddo do in this regard. Is it impossible to find affordable housing within walking distance to campus?
My kid worked as an RA his sophomore year and jr year so he stayed on campus. He then senior year lived in an apartment over the bridge in south Knoxville and drove to campus. He went early enough that he was able to park.
This is my biggest concern for my dd. We are in state so she has the highest volunteer scholarship + state money making this very affordable. But I am concerned with the housing situation and that may be what tips us elsewhere. My son is thrifty and his apartment was old and kinda dumpy and he picked his own apartment without us seeing it (he was a senior by that point). When my dd (my baby!) is a sophomore I know I would not put her in the cheap dumpy apartment and I will likely pay $$$$ to have her in the safest most convenient place. So I have to build that in to the cost estimate. She may be choosing between this and a small school with on campus housing all four years and this is a huge factor.
All that said my son says it’s not that big of a deal and everyone works it out. Supposedly enough new housing right around campus has been built that it isn’t so tight but it isn’t cheap either. I’m definitely planning on it being more than the dorms.
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Thank you so much for this valuable feedback!! The RA discussion and housing budget will come into our talks when we sit down to hash everything out. He grew up a vol, bleeds orange, but we are OOS. We shall see. 
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My son is having a hard time thinking of his sister going anywhere else! He drove me crazy during the college admissions process because he had tunnel vision about being a Vol but it worked out and did not disappoint. Being an RA worked out well for him.
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My OOS D26 was accepted to UTK EA but only for Fall 2027, with the option of attending a different UT campus or studying abroad for 2026. Has anyone else heard of this pathway option? It seems like she would miss out on the freshman experience.
I don’t think she will choose this option since she’s been accepted EA at Penn State and U Rhode Island with a merit scholarship and she’s been deferred at Clemson, USCarolina, Auburn, TCU and U Delaware.
Her GPA is 3.75 out of 4.0, she has 8 AP classes with strong 4/5s, Honors courses, 4 years of varsity sports and theater, community service, etc.
If anyone else has comments on this, I’d love to hear.