Have to agree with Sam. My kid got a cool lap top. It wasn't necessary. On the other hand I think kids when considering $3750/ yr, a couple hundred National Merit Kids get, is peanuts compared to the amouunt that the university has been defunded in recent years by GOP economics and that should be the real issue. However, anti-tax, anti-rational folks don't like to think that way. They contentedly vote Bush-Perry, get their couple hundred tax break, ((Tx is a low tax state anyway) and cheerily pay their several thousand more tutition as they think that is just the way it has to be.
I agree with those that say that sending the money to needs based scholarships is not a bad idea. It's just that I have a hard time believing that UT, with one of the largest endowments in the nation, is hard pressed to find $5 million a year for these scholarships.
It's a funny time at universities though. harvard, stanford and UT's endowment (to a slightly lesser extent) all took beatings during the market downturn. Universities budget the anticipated income off of endowment, so when it goes underwater, suddenly a university budget can look like California's. It's like: uh, hey employee #3278, we literally don't know how we're going to pay your salary this year. Goodbye. Lot of layoffs at Stanford, some at Harvard, and Harvard stopped building their new campus mid-shovel-stroke. Not clear when they'll restart. Some smaller schools without an endowment have been strangely better off, as long as they keep good student enrollment.
Boone Pickens told Okl St to put the money he gave them in his Natty Gas fund when prices were score high
II went there a few years ago. I know they have jacked the prices a ton since my freshman year, but still it isn't too bad. I didn't even apply and I got scholarships. They even gave me extra scholarships like my second or third year. The point is they will give you money if you do well and you don't have to apply.
Are you from in state? Because out of state students, if they can get into UT (very few slots for any in-coming freshmen/women, with around 94% of the class this Fall being from Texas and getting in under the 10% rule), have a much harder time. I'm sending my son to a major public university in Wisconsin, he has outstanding grades from an Austin magnet high school, graduating with 21 hours of college credit, and we couldn't get a dime of financial aid, unless it was a loan (which we don't need). All the aid/grants, you name it, appears geared towards in state students. I understand it, we can afford to send him there, but $40K coming out of our pockets is still a major annual hit. That's money we can't set aside for retirement, or save towards our daughter's future education needs.
Extremely weak move by UT and the Board of Regents. We need to be attracting the best students instead of redistributing those funds elsewhere.
Deckard, UW Madison, I hope. Great campus. The best I've seen. I went there for awhile. Ah Lake Mendota and the student center. A lot of liberals. Cold as hell, but nice in the summer. Aside from the liberals, not sure it is worth 40,000 per year. Go for UT even if he has to go to UTSA for a year.
PS Deckard, we have been at this so long I remember when our kids were in middle school and now they are going to college and law school etc.
Yes, same school. It is really a trip, figuratively and literally, as you can imagine. Thrilled that he's going there, and wish it was a bit cheaper! It's too strange how time changes as you get older. When you're young, it crawls by. When you're older, it has tennis shoes. When I was in my 20's, I heard that line. Now I know it's true. It's the top-rated school in his major. We're crazy!
My wife works in development at UT, and I can tell you from first-hand experience: UT's endowments have taken a MASSIVE hit. As have universities across the nation. UT has gotten so big, with so many students clamoring to get in every year, that it just doesn't have the resources to fund everything anymore. Something had to take the hit, and if it was a choice between merit vs. needs-based, I think they made the right call. Of course, somehow they'll still find money for the football program.
Oh really...explain this one. There has never been a state income tax. Sales taxes have not decreased. Fees for things like registration and drivers licenses have gone up. Property taxes have not decreased. Where exactly are you getting this stuff. I really think you are wrong on this one.
Property taxes were cut in 2006: http://www.texasrealestate.com/web/3/35/stories/taxcut_faq.cfm Not sure if they've gone back up since then, though.
While I think the salaries and other expenses in the athletic dept are out of control, they actually pay for themselves and are profit generating (at least at UT). I don't believe the UT athletic dept takes funds from the rest of the University.
The answer is no, especially for kids who go to expensive private colleges to get low paying liberal arts degrees like social work. Particularly in a soul-crushing job market like this one. And cost is actually one of the bigger reasons people don't graduate from college.
That's not true at U of H. And I wonder how many athletic departments' financial pictures are masked by alumni donations. I don't think you could fire someone in the middle of their guaranteed seven-or-eight-figure contract, then have to double-up and replace him, without some kind of assurance from powerful alumni. Although, I imagine some schools are willing to accept a costly athletic department as a marketing expense for the University.
This, of course, ignores another reality that existed in 2006. Property valuations were usually going up out of control in many districts. The rate went down without really impacting the amount of tax collected because the valuation in many areas was going up the statutory 10% annually. In my work, I look at tax valuations often. They, at least in Texas, really are not going down much if at all. In fact, escrow accounts are still going negative due to property tax increases over the prior year. Besides, these property taxes fund the local school district, not the universities.
Athletic depts at schools like UT should get no flak whatsoever. They most probably cover their expenses, bring money to the university, and bring the most important thing of all- exposure. The money you pay to Mack Brown to make you contend is well worth it. As for the merit scholarships- I believe that if you've busted your tail in HS, you should get rewarded for it. There is a definite need for need based scholarships, but it shouldn't come at the expense of good students. Is the top 10% rule still in place? Thats where they should make cuts. That rule is stupid and has only caused trouble for state universities, UT in particular.
