I have to give you credit for probably holding the world’s record for longest wait for a decision from UT. Sorry it wasnt what you had hoped for though.
And you left out Michigan, UVA, UC Berkely, UCLA and about 50 other state schools. Just because UT has money, doesnt mean it should give everyone free tuition. It’s already incredibly generous, especially for middle class families. Tuition is discounted for families who make between $100-125k
And I challenge you to find any statistic that $125k is not at least middle class.
Where are these kids going? Harvard? Yale? The elite schools dont give merit aid.
What OOS schools are better than UT and after merit aid is cheaper than $11k?
How many T20 schools give merit aid?
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Those states and schools aren’t in nearly the financial position Texas is in either as a state or as a school. They are academically comparable but not economically comparable.
Plenty of families who make $100k or $125k don’t have a penny saved for college or don’t plan on giving their kid any money for college. We also already have Federal and other programs that address Needs based issues. If Texas wants to do more that’s fine but to the point where there there is so little Merit Aid available is foolish on multiple levels.
I agree making tuition at UT free for most students is a lofty goal. Florida and Georgia do it but I guess we shouldn’t aspire to be like them because, why exactly? Is it because you think people who happen to be children of parents that make more than $125k just should because you think they should? I mean they most likely have parents that have paid the most in taxes and they also are statistically more likely to be more qualified in terms of merit but what does that matter?
I don’t like picking winners and losers based on how much money their parents make. I’d rather reward people due to their own merit or even better find a way for college at places like Texas and A&M as affordable as possible.
A Public school has a different obligation than a Private school, having merit tied almost exclusively to Need is what Private schools do because they aren’t accountable to taxpayers.
You also miss the mark on the Top 20 argument. The point isn’t that a kid in Texas can easily go to another Top 20 school on merit scholarships. The point is that if they are a strong student in comparable states with Top 20 Publics like Georgia, Florida, or North Carolina they can go to those schools for far less. What you do have is a lot of kids that get in to UT or A&M but go to Top 100 Schools OOS for far less than going to their In State Flagship.
BTW, I do know of multiple kids who got full rides at Top 20 schools and didn’t get anything from Texas or A&M. Texas has about 20 Forty Acres scholarships. A&M only really gives money for National Merit Finalists or about 130 or so per year (about 40 full rides with Brown). Most Top 20 Publics though are stingy with Merit for OOS students (it’s actually against the law in California for UC Schools). They give their merit to In State students and let OOS students subsidize them. A&M and Texas have no such restrictions.
Well, this thread lived a good life, time to move on. See all y’all whose kids are headed to the 40 acres in the c/o 29 parent pages 
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You keep bringing up Florida. The former president of the University of Florida, who recently resigned, made it very clear that their current system with bright futures wasn’t viable for the long term, and they were probably going to have to scrap it.
Does anybody know when/if UT will release their admissions stats for this year? I’m interested in seeing how the increase in applications affected the admission rates for OOS and non-auto..
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Bright Futures is one program and probably a little too lenient in what it takes to get it. Saase was a critic of it because he thought it would lead to the school getting lower quality applicants and declining in finance and prestige. He has been shown to be wrong on all counts. The school is flourishing and is higher ranked than ever, has more money and resources than ever, and it also had over 90k applicants similar to UT this cycle and has significantly raised it’s admissions standards because of that.
That said Florida is running monster surpluses and is having discussions about literally paying off the remainder of their entire state debt. In the end this is a financial priority issue and a budget issue. Texas as a state and UT as a University both have significantly more resources than Florida and UF yet they run laps around us on affordability for In State students.
As an aside, UT employs about 3500 people in faculty related positions but has over 11,500 Administrative Staff. Certainly there needs to be support for teachers but that ratio is nuts. If the ratio was even 2 Admin to 1 Faculty you would likely have enough money to make tuition free for students, especially if you cut back on some of the bloat. I know DEI is a controversial topic but UT was spending $13 million a year on DEI salaries alone (not including overall budget for what they were doing), that pays for a LOT of scholarships if redirected. I mean that’s over $300 per Undergrad student. Even if you are a strong advocate of DEI policy that is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on it at a Public School. There are also countless Provosts and Senior Administrators that make far more than Faculty and provide very little value in less political areas.
UT has a budget of over $4 Billion and tuition and fees are about 10% of that revenue IF everyone was paying full tuition.
It’s simply a matter of financing and priorities. I think it is fair to disagree on those priorities but to me encouraging the best students in Texas to be want to go to our Flagship schools and to be able to do so without taking out huge loans should be a goal. I also don’t like seeing those same students deciding between going OOS for far less than they can go In State. Both of my sons have experienced that and I know of countless others in the same situation. To some that isn’t a priority or concern and I can understand that, I just disagree.
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I think that comes much later in year around October after 2025 school year starts. They did that iin October last year for 2024
I would also be curious if they release any info on the stats of students admitted now that test scores are required. Anecdotally, I’ve seen many admitted who didn’t have the almost-perfect scores. My Senior has decided to not attend UT but I have a younger one who is interested in UT so am still invested 
One does not need to have perfect or almost perfect scores to get into UT. It is all holistic for the most competitive majors. I had a 1510 SAT and OK ECs, auto admit, but glad I got into CS. My schools 6th ranked kid with good resume did not get into CS. Also, I read on reddit few posts of others who got in with lower SATs and non-autos into CS and Engg. So anything is possible.
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Has anyone got off the waitlist yet?
Are you auto admit?
International students generally pay full price. It is a huge financial boost for universities. All universities strive to have 10% international students.
Congrats on your acceptance! And yes I had no idea until the recent admission results that the less-perfect scores still had a chance for the competitive majors. My senior got into McCombs with a very good but not near-perfect score. She was auto-admit.
I have a 10th grader who is wanting to major in CS so will see what happens when it’s her turn.
Thanks. Congrats to your kid on McCombs acceptance and good luck for your 10th grader.
That’s not a good enough reason. I’m sure there are plenty of U.S. students who have to pay full price.
Money is just one component. This is a connected global world and universities realize the value in Diversity and multi-cultural perspectives and experiences. In fact many of the top universities want and recruit international students. Just like how American Students can study abroad. And It just doesn’t matter to these colleges if someone is against it..
The money maker on Intl students for colleges is at the Graduate Level. The typical pattern is to get an Undergrad in their home country and then get a Masters paying full price in the US. This is especially true in Engineering and Comp Sci. The amount of Undergrad Internationals is far less but still relevant.
That said UT really isn’t impacted much compared to most as they are such a wealthy University.
Yes, the Percentage of International students at Undergrad level is much less compared to Grad and the reason is many countries have top colleges for undergrad, infact better than U.S. But when it comes to Masters/PHD U.S is at the top. However many of these top students who come for M.S/PHD get good scholarships.
Can students finish their undergrad earlier at UT? My D is laying out degree program both for Georgia tech and UT, looks like she can finish CS in 2 and 1/2 years in Gtech(or 3). She is looking at options at UT.