Scholarship Types at T14 Forum

[MikeTexas]

Good morning everybody,

I will begin the application process in the very near future. My current school of choice is Texas, but I will likely apply to a few other T14 depending on how my stats come out. I currently expect an LSAT of 173 +/- 2 and a GPA of 3.9.

My primary lack of information right now regards student aid. The singular issue that would sway me the most, certainly in terms of selecting a school other than Texas, is being able to offset a substantial drop in household income. I would like to be able to recover some of this through scholarships that return unused funds to the student (I.E., they are for travel and living expenses as opposed to just tuition and fees) and stipends/grants. As an added layer of complication, I am a Texas veteran wth Hazlewood to cover my tuition at UT.

Do any of you have experience with "cash back" aid at Texas or any T14?

Thanks for any info,

Mike

[Nagster5]

Good morning everybody,

I will begin the application process in the very near future. My current school of choice is Texas, but I will likely apply to a few other T14 depending on how my stats come out. I currently expect an LSAT of 173 +/- 2 and a GPA of 3.9.

My primary lack of information right now regards student aid. The singular issue that would sway me the most, certainly in terms of selecting a school other than Texas, is being able to offset a substantial drop in household income. I would like to be able to recover some of this through scholarships that return unused funds to the student (I.E., they are for travel and living expenses as opposed to just tuition and fees) and stipends/grants. As an added layer of complication, I am a Texas veteran wth Hazlewood to cover my tuition at UT.

Do any of you have experience with "cash back" aid at Texas or any T14?

Thanks for any info,

Mike

Every school I got scholarships at that exceeded the total cost of tuition (I had 40% GIB) for over the total tuition reimbursed the remainder as a stipend. This included UT. WUSTL has a 45k stipend on top of the full ride they gave me that is reserved for vets, so that's an option as well, but I think you can do better. You should be shooting higher than UT IMO assuming you hit your LSAT target, do you not have any GIB in addition to your Hazelwood? UVA, Berkeley, and UM are all free if you're at 100%, and would probably convert merit aid to stipends.

[MikeTexas]

Thanks for your response Nagster. The remainder of my GI Bill has expired. My general lean to UT originates with it being the school of my childhood. Not from a perspective of alumni in the family... I am the first of my family in generations to attend college... but rather it was our geographical home team.

Now my criteria for preference is much more mature in nature. Texas is the only reasonable target for hundreds of miles for me to apply at, and an added consideration is that it would take a drastic gap in job offers for me to utilize my degree outside of Texas. There is a saying in Texas that UT Law may as well be Harvard if you are going to work in Texas. That may be a bit of a stretch... I'd say T3 would garner plenty of attention here. Add in the potential for a significant increase in stipends since the Hazlewood Act will cover 100% of tuition at UT, and it starts to become a bit of a perfect storm.

This is not to say that I am blinding myself. An offer from T3, and maybe even T6, that makes my attendance financially feasible will be given due consideration. The gap from about 7 through Texas probably would not warrant selection. The last issue is that my wife is a nurse by trade, and her critical income may be jeopardized by licensing issues in other states. I would not allow that to stand in the way of an otherwise lucrative situation.

[mornincounselor]

I am generally a huge fan of Texas, and in your case, I couldn't imagine a scenario where attending there for free with plans of staying here could possibly be a bad decision. I would still apply broadly to the other t14 schools and see what the options at the end of the day are (you will want those other offers to have leverage to negotiate with UT anyway)

I don't have any specific advice for you w/r/t aid above full tuition.