So, you don’t qualify for need-based financial aid, your budget is under 60K and ideally under 50K, and you emphatically do not want to stay in state. And you have a very solid academic record, but not stats that would make it easy to get at least half-tuition merit, which is what it would take to bring most private colleges and universities within budget. You’d also need merit to make budget at most OOS publics, especially in the northeast; some will offer you enough, but affordability is not a foregone conclusion at many.
What you need, first and foremost, is a substitute for the “financial safety” role that in-state public universities would have played on your list, if you were willing to stay in Texas. That is to say, you need someplace where you can be confident of getting in, and confident of being solidly within your budget, i.e. under 50K/year.
As such, I’m going to second @overlyinvolveddad’s suggestion of SUNY Albany. Why?
- Their Flagship Match program guarantees that you will pay tuition equivalent to your own state flagship, in your case UT-Austin. Room and board at SUNY Albany will run a little higher than UT-Austin (around 3K/year more per their respective cost estimators) and transportation costs will obviously be higher, so you’ll need to add around 5K to the in-state cost of UT, but that’ll still put you around 40K/year which is comfortably within budget, as a financial safety should be.
- Getting into the Honors College is not a slam-dunk, but is a realistic possibility.
- It’s an urban campus, which you prefer, and which is a less-common attribute of schools which will be affordable+attainable for you.
- Diversity is another less-common attribute among commonly-recommended affordable/attainable schools. SUNY Albany has one of the highest percentages of Black/AA students among non-HBCU’s - almost 20% - and it’s under 45% white.
- As previously noted, it’s in the state capital of a populous and politically interesting state, offering many opportunities at the state level to students interested in poli sci and public policy. Experiential Learning Opportunities | University at Albany
- Undergrads studying poli sci or public policy can apply to the combined BA/MA program to earn a Master of International Affairs through the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy.
- Rockefeller also offers a Semester in DC program for undergrads.
When all is said and done, you may get merit offers that make other schools affordable, but you need to have at least one on your list where affordability is guaranteed, and SUNY Albany offers that, without giving up an urban environment in your desired region.
If the mountain west region would work for you, U of Utah could be another financial safety to consider. The Honors College programming is particularly robust here, and honors housing is great. SLC is the state capital as well. Utah offers a path to residency for OOS students, which would allow you to pay in-state costs in years 2-4. So, depending on merit, you might or might not be within budget in the first year, but you’d be under-budget for the last three years. However, UofU is much less diverse than SUNY Albany, with Black/AA students making up only 1% of undergrads.
In terms of reachier schools, you could try Macalester, in St. Paul, which is great for your interests. But getting in with enough merit to make budget is relatively unlikely.
Seconding Howard, in DC. You might also consider making an exception to your “no south” rule for Spelman or Agnes Scott. Atlanta is a major center of Black political organizing; Charles Blow’s analysis of why he moved there from the northeast, and why he believes others should do the same, could be worth reading. Spelman doesn’t have a specific International Relations/Affairs degree program, though.
Denison, just outside Columbus, OH, could be worth a look, as could Ohio State, in the same city, where the Morrill Scholarship might be a possibility.
I don’t see McGill making budget, unfortunately… and even if it could, there would be no buffer to absorb future shifts in exchange rate. There might be some Canadian schools that would work, though. Dalhousie has a tuition guarantee (4 years fixed) for international students now, and their department of International Development Studies might be of interest.
How do you feel about Catholic U’s? You could have merit potential at some of the urban Catholic schools - not Georgetown or BC, which have no path to affordability, but others like Fordham, Loyola Chicago, and Loyola Maryland could work… as well as west coast schools like LMU, U of San Francisco, Seattle U, and U of Portland.
Lastly, if you’re interested in a heavy foreign language component and a full year of study/internship abroad, you might consider URI’s International Studies & Diplomacy dual-major program, which also has a 5-year BA/MA option with an IR masters.
Good luck!