Texas College Costs

[superdave]

My daughter was born in Texas. We currently reside in Canada. She has always wanted to move back to Texas, and is starting university in another year. What are state college costs like in Texas for someone in say, an engineering program.

 

[ziggy29]

First of all, is she planning on eventually obtaining Texas resident status in order to qualify (again, eventually) for in-state tuition? That certainly would affect the cost (and change the hoops you and she will have to jump through in order to eventually obtain it).

Here's some information from the University of Texas in Austin about international students and residency status:

http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/residency/resfaq.html#q8

 

[W2R]

First of all, is she planning on eventually obtaining Texas resident status in order to qualify (again, eventually) for in-state tuition? That certainly would affect the cost (and change the hoops you and she will have to jump through in order to eventually obtain it).

Here's some information from the University of Texas in Austin about international students and residency status:

University of Texas at Austin - Texas Residency FAQ

And, information from Texas A&M University about international students and residency status:

Texas A&M University - Applicant Categories

(cough)

I looked at the in-state tuition, and unfortunately it is a lot higher now than it was "back in the day". Pretty amazing.

 

[ziggy29]

And, information from Texas A&M University about international students and residency status:

Texas A&M University - Applicant Categories

(cough)

Oh, you Aggies...

Actually I just picked the first thing I found when I googled, since I'm pretty sure all the state colleges will have pretty much the same residency rules (assuming state law is the same all over the state)...

 

[W2R]

Oh, you Aggies...

Actually I just picked the first thing I found when I googled, since I'm pretty sure all the state colleges will have pretty much the same residency rules (assuming state law is the same all over the state)...

Just couldn't let the man be stuck without any information at all about A&M. The engineering curriculum there was outstanding when I went through it.

State law is the same all over the state, but application of it in screening students for residency status is wildly different from school to school. Or at least, my international classmates led me to believe that was the case.

 

[superdave]

I actually think she would love to become a Texas resident again. She was born in Houston, so she definately is a US citizen. She has friends in Houston still, so ir could happen.

 

[Rustic23]

Both Texas and A&M are very competitive. The law in Texas says something like the top 10% of all Texas High School Seniors qualify. I am not sure how many 'outsiders' currently get omitted. On the other hand, a friend of ours daughter from New Mexico went to UT on scholarship. I found it interesting that the first semester was at full out of state tuition, but after that she qualified for in-state tuition as a Texas resident. That was about 15 years ago and things may have changed by now.

Good Luck!

 

[MichaelB]

When I went to UT Austin my tuition was less for an out of state resident than my home state school(Illinois). Wonderful school, great city (then). We used to have classes here Scholz Garten

And, information from Texas A&M University about international students and residency status:

Texas A&M University - Applicant Categories

(cough)

I looked at the in-state tuition, and unfortunately it is a lot higher now than it was "back in the day". Pretty amazing.

Don't they have a separate forum for aggies? One that uses simple words and lots of pictures.

Hook 'em Horns.

 

[Rustic23]

No Aggie Forum, but an Aggie friend of mine sent me an email to let me know the internet was down.

 

[REWahoo]

No Aggie Forum, but an Aggie friend of mine sent me an email to let me know the internet was down.

 

[W2R]

Aw, gee, guys, when people (especially t-sips) break out the Aggie jokes, I know it's just because they love us so! So, thanks.

 

[superdave]

After some reading, it looks like she would have to live in Texas for 1 year before she would qualify for resident status. hmmm, the brain wheels are turning....

 

[MichaelB]

No Aggie Forum, but an Aggie friend of mine sent me an email to let me know the internet was down.

Aw, gee, guys, when people (especially t-sips) break out the Aggie jokes, I know it's just because they love us so! So, thanks.

My pleasure. Just one minor point - they're not jokes, they're anecdotes.

 

[ziggy29]

After some reading, it looks like she would have to live in Texas for 1 year before she would qualify for resident status. hmmm, the brain wheels are turning....

That's what I was hoping they would do. If she's a U.S. citizen, if she has a permanent residence in Texas for at least a year and you don't claim her as a dependent on your tax return (not sure how this would impact someone in Canada), she has a good shot at being a "resident" for tuition purposes and make the financial pain MUCH lower. So your homework (pun intended), if you're all serious about this, is to figure out how to make her eligible for in-state tuition as a Texas resident.

Ain't this place grand?

 

[superdave]

Ain't this place grand?

Yes it is! Maybe I need to snow bird in Austin and get ourselves a nice condo....

 

[2B]

I paid for 3 kids to go through Texas universities (2-A&M, 1-TxSt) and found that the cost shown in the college catalog was fairly accurate. Texas and A&M are both top tier engineering colleges with excellent reputations in the industry. I'm a chemical engineer from the UW (Seattle) and have been involved in past lives in college recruiting. A&M has a nationally recognized "sales engineer" program called Industrial Distribution. UT doesn't have anything like it. Other than that I don't really have any academic related comments.

BTW the University of Houston has a pretty good engineering program but it doesn't have the reputation of UT or A&M.

As for in-state tuition, A&M had/has a rule that probably also applies to UT. If a student gets $1,000 or more in scholarships through the school, they also qualify for in-state tuition. One of my daughters friends was from out of state and this was a big deal for her every year. Every engineering department has plenty of merit based $1,000 scholarships to hand out.

The 10% rule doesn't apply to out of state applicants. Every university looks for "diversity" which helps out of state applicants get admitted. The other approach is to attend a community college. It would be much easier to transfer and getting residency wouldn't be as difficult.

I almost forgot to mention Rice with all the UT and A&M chatter. Rice has a top notch engineering school but it's a lot more expensive than the public universities. You need a pretty impressive SAT to get in. The classes are smaller but I never really considered that an issue for myself.

The only other choice that I can think of is Texas Tech. At the risk of getting a flaming reply, I consider TxTech to be a second tier engineering school.

 

[Leonidas]

The 10% rule doesn't apply to out of state applicants. Every university looks for "diversity" which helps out of state applicants get admitted. The other approach is to attend a community college. It would be much easier to transfer and getting residency wouldn't be as difficult.

There is an alternative to community college that I know a lot of Texas families take advantage of. A&M and UT have a number of campuses across the state, and there is a program for students who aren't admitted to the main university as a new freshman to attend one of the other schools for a year (maybe two) and have a guaranteed transfer option. There is a minimum GPA required for the transfer, but I think it is a lower standard than that required of transfer students from outside the system. I know a lot of students go to TAMU Galveston hoping to transfer to TAMU College Station later.

 

[Rustic23]

For sure, Texas and A&M get most, if not all the publicity for the Texas Higher Education system. However, the system is much much larger that that. As 2B mentions Texas Tech, and University of Houston are both good schools. Also there is a tier of schools, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, North Texas, University El Paso, Arlington, and I am sure a lot more I am not aware of. Your child will get a good education at any of these. Some may actually be better than UT or A&M depending on what they want to do when they get out. All are generally cheaper, as tuition is less and living expenses are also less.

In my experience the main thing a college degree proves is you can get up on your own and make an 8:00 class. If you graduate at the top of you class at any of the major universities, of course, you are in a good place. However, those that just graduate, IMO, are not at any great advantage compared to those that graduate high from one of the second tier schools. All can usually get in to graduate school and most will get jobs in their profession, (if there are jobs available).

So, if they just want to go to school in Texas, there are plenty of inexpensive choices that will lead to economic opportunity. By the way, Rice is expensive, but their original charter did not allow them to charge tuition. I think it was back in the 70's that they changed it, and when they did, the change provided for very liberal scholarships based on need. A real libral attitude 'Those that can afford it will pay, those than can't will not'. Not sure if that is true today. Might ask Nords, as his daughter just took the tour.

 

[superdave]

She is still buzzing about Texas since we discussed this, so she is pretty pumped up about it. Any more thoughts are welcomed.

 

[Bestwifeever]

One of my children (not a Texas resident--which perhaps helped her stand out?) went to Rice (no financial aid) and started working as a freshman for tuition credit that she got when she saw a flyer for the job; kept the job for four years, for increasing credit each year. There are a lot of on-campus jobs like that--one friend was an assistant physical trainer (finishing med school now), one was a reporter of basketball game stats for the public information office. Her grades didn't suffer--the job was definitely a good thing in many ways for her.

I imagine the same campus job situation is true for the other private schools in Texas--I believe TCU and SMU in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Trinity in San Antonio also have engineering schools--that's all I know about Texas colleges .

 

[cardude]

All of this talk about our great Texas schools is just further confirmation that:

OU SUCKS!

Sorry. Couldn't help it.

UT Austin BBA 1988

 

[Nords]

Might ask Nords, as his daughter just took the tour.

Haven't looked at the prices yet since our kid's applying NROTC.

IIRC Rice's list price was more expensive than Notre Dame's list price was the year before. But all the schools we looked at were in the $40K-$45K/year list price... which of course no one pays.

None of the admissions offices seemed very concerned about pricing and certainly weren't positioning themselves as "bargain schools". Finances seems to be handled by a completely different staff with a bewildering array of techniques to bring down the total cost.

 

[2B]

I imagine the same campus job situation is true for the other private schools in Texas--I believe TCU and SMU in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Trinity in San Antonio also have engineering schools--that's all I know about Texas colleges .

You can get an engineering degree at a lot of different schools. The one absolute I say you need is to get a degree from an "accredited" program. Not all schools have accredited programs. They may have some majors accredited and some not.

The other thing I recommend is to get a degree from one of the "top tier" engineering school. There are about 25 of them. A degree from one of them will help you get a job when the market is slow and you'll get recruited by a higher quality of employers.

 

[Poundkey]

I would consider touring the campuses of the schools under consideration. They all seem to have a different feel according to my kids. My son graduated from A&M with a BSAE in 99. He also attended UT for a time but concluded the A&M way of life just suited him better. Still not sure what he means by that. Lets not forget about Tech which, from what I hear, is a great engineering school also. Texas is lucky to have so many good choices.

 

[Leonidas]

Ran across a friend this morning who was the local disaster preparedness chief and was reminded of this thread.

I remembered that it was true, at one time, that non-Texas residents could get in-state tuition rates at public universities if they were serving in the Texas State Guard. The TSG is not the same thing as the National Guard. It is one of the three branches of the Texas Military Forces, but their role is to augment and supplement the other branches (Army National Guard and Air Force NG) and relief NGOs by providing civil affairs, communications, medical response, and maritime assistance, in times of emergency. They wear military uniforms, but are not part of the federal forces and cannot be deployed overseas. I don't think they even go on active duty for training with federal forces.

Read more at these links: Texas State Guard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Home - Texas State Guard

Texas Military Forces

Anyway, apparently they still do offer in-state tuition rates at public universities for member of the TSG (along with anyone serving in any branch of the military) regardless of how long they have lived in Texas. See Education Code here: Hazlewood Education Act

But here is the really cool thing - Texas State Guard members get free tuition for up to 12 hours per semester for as long as 5-years. Window on State Government: Education