UT Austin (Dallas, Irving, West: homes, tech jobs, neighborhood)

[Trainwreck20]

My first semester (in the 80s) at UT cost, lets see:
16 hours x $4/hr = $64
~$12 parking permit (optional)
~$7 publication fee
~$40 athletic pass (optional)
~$10 in fees (freshman chemisty lab, I think)

So it was around $135 for my first semester for tuition and fees (some optional). Ahhh, the good old days!

[mrsengle]

I'm not going to argue the pro's and cons of the flat rate tuition policy. What I WILL argue is that UT doesn't give a breakdown of their fee schedule. A&M also has the flat rate tuition schedule, but you can see a list of their fees on their website. If people are paying to attend a public university, they have every right to know where their money is going - and the public has the right to know, too.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

My first semester (in the 80s) at UT cost, lets see:
16 hours x $4/hr = $64
~$12 parking permit (optional)
~$7 publication fee
~$40 athletic pass (optional)
~$10 in fees (freshman chemisty lab, I think)

So it was around $135 for my first semester for tuition and fees (some optional). Ahhh, the good old days!

Ahhh yes, back in the day when one could go register for classes and write a check for under $200 for the entire semester including fees but minus housing. My books cost more than my tuition. When I first started to college it was $3 a semester hour.

As for UT, MOST colleges/universities limit how many hours can be transferred in. I have no problem w/ that at all. You can not expect someone that went to a low rated community college and then the last year finsished up at a prestige private university to have the same educational background as those that went to the univ. all 4-5 years. If that was the case everyone in the world would ditch a full fledged university for the first 2 years. Kind of undercuts the value of a better schools education. Another issue w/ transfering credits is the more hours you have to transfer the higher your gpa usually has to be. Makes it harder for people to move schools later on.

When it comes to charging for a full load even if one is not taking 12 hours I did read something interesting awhile back concerning that at UT. Because UT is such a huge school w/ more applicants than they can possibly accept they are making it harder for people that are taking longer than 4-5 years to finish. You really have to put it in perspective. If your a high school graduate looking at schools and the school you would prefer to attend can not accept you because they have too many part-time students taking 7 or more years to finish it can be somewhat upsetting. It also makes it harder for the full time students to get a full load if a lot of their classes are full w/ part time students. I totally understand the need for some to work and the desire for those to go back and finish. I worked all the way thru college and paid for it myself so I've been there. You just have to look at both sides when it comes down to it. Why should someone that can go full-time not be allowed to because there are 10 students taking up spots in his classes that only go part time? In the article I read on this I was upset at the UT pres for saying it as I was a working student back in the day. But I understand where he is coming from. You can either have a school that is full of part time students that a large percentage may never graduate or you can have a school where all the students attend full time and the graduation rate is superb. Which one would you go to? Or send your child to?

[5.0 Mustang]

Originally Posted by mrsengle

My husband got a computer science degree at A&M - he had to deal with the out-of-state tuition also - but he received a scholarship to help with that. Maybe worth checking out if you're still looking at moving to Texas.

I also have to agree that UT is a bit overrated, and I've also heard it from students that go there. Their thought was that they spent the majority of their focus on the grad students. A friend of mine wanted to go back to school to get the pre-recs for pharmacy school, but could only take at MOST 9 hours, because she was a single mom and had to work full-time. Even if she only took 9 hours, they were going to charge for 12. I didn't look into this myself, so maybe she misunderstood or the rule is different now. I wouldn't be surprised though - especially since you can't get a tuition bill with all the fees listed.

I am considering A&M. I was accepted but given no scholarships so tuition is $24k for a year.

[mrsengle]

Because UT is such a huge school w/ more applicants than they can possibly accept they are making it harder for people that are taking longer than 4-5 years to finish. You really have to put it in perspective. If your a high school graduate looking at schools and the school you would prefer to attend can not accept you because they have too many part-time students taking 7 or more years to finish it can be somewhat upsetting. It also makes it harder for the full time students to get a full load if a lot of their classes are full w/ part time students. I totally understand the need for some to work and the desire for those to go back and finish. I worked all the way thru college and paid for it myself so I've been there. You just have to look at both sides when it comes down to it. Why should someone that can go full-time not be allowed to because there are 10 students taking up spots in his classes that only go part time? In the article I read on this I was upset at the UT pres for saying it as I was a working student back in the day. But I understand where he is coming from. You can either have a school that is full of part time students that a large percentage may never graduate or you can have a school where all the students attend full time and the graduation rate is superb. Which one would you go to? Or send your child to?

The problem I have with this argument is that it assumes that one student's academic goals are more important than another's. In the case of my friend, she already had a degree, and the classes she needed couldn't be picked up at a community college. Even if they could, I doubt ANY pharmacy school would choose her over another candidate that took the same classes at a 4 year university, regardless of her academic performance. UT's MBA program practically CATERS to working adults. Entrance to the school should be based on academic merit, not the school's assumption of a studen't motivation. I could make a big argument over that - discrimination, maybe?

[Trainwreck20]

The problem is as simple as way too many highly qualified applicants, and trying to decide admission individually on a case by case basis is almost impossible. So rather arbitrary standards are set up. Can be rough, but at least everyone knows the requirements. My niece was accepted at Rice but could not get into UT, which is kind of absurd, but she did not make the top 10% of her class. Rice did not care, UT had a line drawn there at the time.

[ducksburg]

Originally Posted by 5.0 Mustang

I am considering A&M. I was accepted but given no scholarships so tuition is $24k for a year.

is A&M that expensive?
by the way,the faculty:student ratio in A&M is 1:20! I suspect how large their classes are.

[ducksburg]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

The problem is as simple as way too many highly qualified applicants, and trying to decide admission individually on a case by case basis is almost impossible. So rather arbitrary standards are set up. Can be rough, but at least everyone knows the requirements. My niece was accepted at Rice but could not get into UT, which is kind of absurd, but she did not make the top 10% of her class. Rice did not care, UT had a line drawn there at the time.

Rice is a private college

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

The problem is as simple as way too many highly qualified applicants, and trying to decide admission individually on a case by case basis is almost impossible. So rather arbitrary standards are set up. Can be rough, but at least everyone knows the requirements. My niece was accepted at Rice but could not get into UT, which is kind of absurd, but she did not make the top 10% of her class. Rice did not care, UT had a line drawn there at the time.

The top 10% of graduating high school seniors right now under current state laws are automatically accepted to any state school. That is why she did not get UT but easily could get Rice based on her SAT and ACT scores along w/ her h.s. gpa.

As for mrsengles argument that what I described could be "discrimination", HA! Read the above paragraph. If THAT is not discrimination I don't know what is. There have been MANY reports of h.s. graduates w/ EXCEPTIONAL gpa's, remarkable SAT scores, etc that could not get into UT or A&M solely because they were at a h.s. that was top notch and but they were not in the top 10%. Whereas a student at a low performing h.s. w/ a medicore gpa and low SAT scores was in that schools top 10% of graduating seniors and did get accepted. That is why in my district that offers gifted & talanted elem. & jr high magnet schools and a high school w/ the IB program there are MANY of the g&t students whose parents put them in another high school w/o the IB program solely so that they can be in the top 10% and not have as much competition. The joke in Texas is to move to a small, low performing high school for the last year or two of your exceptionally smart students high school years. I have more problems w/ this 10% rule than I do for "discriminating" against students that are only going to attend college part time.


"UT's MBA program practically CATERS to working adults. "

Most universities DO cater to working adults for their MBA programs. That is nothing unique to just UT.

[jread]

Originally Posted by ducksburg

Rice is a private college

Right, but Rice is also in an entirely different league, academically, than UT. It is especially absurd when you consider that Rice has a much lower acceptance rate than UT. A friend of mine who was fourth in her class didn't make it into Rice, but we all got into UT when we applied. I can't even think of the opposite happening as with the case mentioned above. Rice is a very elite school, the "Harvard of the South" as it's nicknamed.