IN AT The University of Texas Class of 2014 Forum

[japes]

Sending out my matching request today. Anyone have any success, or tips on the process? I've got money from another school that's still significantly more expensive even after the money. I get in-state tuition at Texas and kinda felt like I should have gotten merit aid but was a point below the LSAT floor (with a GPA over the 75th percentile). Any way to work that in, or am I just looking at throwing them that offer of money and hoping they give me some back? Will it help to mention the other school's LRAP is better?

[Leira7905]

I got a financial aid email too, and it also showed all loans...

But when I added it all up, the loans were equal to In-State Tuition minus 10k for the 2011-2012 year, which makes sense (that's the offer I got in the mail: instate tuition + 10k a year).

R6--maybe look at your award on the website and add up the loans. The COA - Loans may = your scholarship.

I don't know if that makes sense.

I already have a scholarship letter, I was hoping to get some grants since Penn and Berkeley are quite generous on that front. I sent my other offers, let's see what shakes.

UT doesn't have grants as of right now to give out to anyone. BUT they are negotiating with the legislature. Also, if you haven't already done so you should submit your other scholarship/financial aid offers to UT through the matching program....

I was under this impression as well. The "CASH" website said that no grants were available because they were waiting on the State Legislature, or something to that effect.

[CMDantes]

I got a financial aid email too, and it also showed all loans...

But when I added it all up, the loans were equal to In-State Tuition minus 10k for the 2011-2012 year, which makes sense (that's the offer I got in the mail: instate tuition + 10k a year).

R6--maybe look at your award on the website and add up the loans. The COA - Loans may = your scholarship.

I don't know if that makes sense.

I already have a scholarship letter, I was hoping to get some grants since Penn and Berkeley are quite generous on that front. I sent my other offers, let's see what shakes.

UT doesn't have grants as of right now to give out to anyone. BUT they are negotiating with the legislature. Also, if you haven't already done so you should submit your other scholarship/financial aid offers to UT through the matching program....

UT recently sent out an email to it's students regarding financial aid. It said that because the budget is in such upheaval, they wouldn't be able to offer certain grants until AFTER the budget passes and they know how much money they'll have.

It all depends on what happens in the state legislature, and we won't have any idea about that until Friday/Saturday when the budget passes the House. Then it won't be finalized until sometime in April. Once they figure out exactly what the budget looks like, they will then give people their financial aid packages. That might not be until July 1st, according to the email sent out, but I expect it will be quite a bit sooner.

Of course, some students at the law school have already received aid packages, but I think those are the students who aren't receiving much or any need-based aid in the form of grants. If I'm mistaken here and you've received need-based aid please let us know.

[juliachild-ish]

R6, you should definitely try to match merit aid. They were very generous with me...and very prompt! And they actually more than matched my offer from NU, in terms of total COA. So give it a shot!

[super6]

So grants are need-based? If I qualified for $9500/year in subsidized loans what does that means for my chances of getting a grant?

[whirledpeas86]

Speaking of scholarship letters, does anyone know if I can find a copy of mine on the freshlaw website? Or should I get in touch with the financial aid office and ask for an electronic copy?

Does anyone know?

[r6_philly]

Speaking of scholarship letters, does anyone know if I can find a copy of mine on the freshlaw website? Or should I get in touch with the financial aid office and ask for an electronic copy?

Does anyone know?

I haven't seen it in my account. They haven't listed scholarships nor the letter. Your best bet is to email them to request a copy. They are indeed very prompt.

[r6_philly]

R6, you should definitely try to match merit aid. They were very generous with me...and very prompt! And they actually more than matched my offer from NU, in terms of total COA. So give it a shot!

Thanks, I will give it a shot!

[juliachild-ish]

Sending out my matching request today. Anyone have any success, or tips on the process? I've got money from another school that's still significantly more expensive even after the money. I get in-state tuition at Texas and kinda felt like I should have gotten merit aid but was a point below the LSAT floor (with a GPA over the 75th percentile). Any way to work that in, or am I just looking at throwing them that offer of money and hoping they give me some back? Will it help to mention the other school's LRAP is better?

I basically just mentioned that Texas is still a top choice but I was having trouble with my decision because I had gotten a significant offer from another school. In my case, there was about a $9k gap/year between the two schools, and I broke down each school's expenses to show them that. Your case is a bit different because the total COA is still less at Texas, but I guess it can't hurt to ask. I wouldn't mention your numbers; they already know them. Just mention your other offer and potentially other acceptances to top schools (i.e. ranked higher than Texas). I suppose mentioning the LRAP differences is not unreasonable.

[nonprofit-prophet]

Anyone know how long they take to respond to matching requests? Also, a general FAFSA question: How little do you have to have in order to have little to no expected family contribution? I'm trying to figure out if I messed up my FAFSA, since UT's financial aid package said it expects 12k from my family. They aren't contributing a dime. I put down that I had a few grand in savings on the fafsa form, but that's for a car. After moving costs and initial rent, I will effectively have zero dollars to put towards law school. How the hell did I get a 12k expected family contribution?

[japes]

Sending out my matching request today. Anyone have any success, or tips on the process? I've got money from another school that's still significantly more expensive even after the money. I get in-state tuition at Texas and kinda felt like I should have gotten merit aid but was a point below the LSAT floor (with a GPA over the 75th percentile). Any way to work that in, or am I just looking at throwing them that offer of money and hoping they give me some back? Will it help to mention the other school's LRAP is better?

I basically just mentioned that Texas is still a top choice but I was having trouble with my decision because I had gotten a significant offer from another school. In my case, there was about a $9k gap/year between the two schools, and I broke down each school's expenses to show them that. Your case is a bit different because the total COA is still less at Texas, but I guess it can't hurt to ask. I wouldn't mention your numbers; they already know them. Just mention your other offer and potentially other acceptances to top schools (i.e. ranked higher than Texas). I suppose mentioning the LRAP differences is not unreasonable.

Thanks!

This Texas budget crisis blows.

[src42]

This Texas budget crisis blows.

Indeed. And not just for law students.

[japes]

This Texas budget crisis blows.

Indeed. And not just for law students.

Yeah. One of my parents is a state employee and may get laid off at the end of the year.

Of course, I can't factor this into FAFSA. Which wouldn't matter anyway because Texas isn't offering grants. Ugh.

[r6_philly]

This Texas budget crisis blows.

Indeed. And not just for law students.

Yeah. One of my parents is a state employee and may get laid off at the end of the year.

Of course, I can't factor this into FAFSA. Which wouldn't matter anyway because Texas isn't offering grants. Ugh.

This no grants thing blows. Maybe this is the year where it pays to go to private institutions. Also what if tuition is raised down the road?

[Leira7905]

This no grants thing blows. Maybe this is the year where it pays to go to private institutions. Also what if tuition is raised down the road?

At the ASD I believe the Dean said that students lock in the tuition that is quoted when they enroll. In other words, they don't raise it for current students. Tuition increases would only apply to the entering students each year. I think that's what he said, anyway. I was kinda spacing out a little. I have a short attention span sometimes.

[CMDantes]

This Texas budget crisis blows.

Indeed. And not just for law students.

Yeah. One of my parents is a state employee and may get laid off at the end of the year.

Of course, I can't factor this into FAFSA. Which wouldn't matter anyway because Texas isn't offering grants. Ugh.

This no grants thing blows. Maybe this is the year where it pays to go to private institutions. Also what if tuition is raised down the road?

Texas isn't offering financial aid packages until July.

We'll see in April/May how the budget shakes out, people still may receive need-based grants.

[Pricer]

Anyone know how long they take to respond to matching requests? Also, a general FAFSA question: How little do you have to have in order to have little to no expected family contribution? I'm trying to figure out if I messed up my FAFSA, since UT's financial aid package said it expects 12k from my family. They aren't contributing a dime. I put down that I had a few grand in savings on the fafsa form, but that's for a car. After moving costs and initial rent, I will effectively have zero dollars to put towards law school. How the hell did I get a 12k expected family contribution?

This is relevant for me, as well. My parents will not be contributing anything, but I put their information on the FAFSA because I thought it was needed for some schools.

[Bildungsroman]

Anyone know how long they take to respond to matching requests? Also, a general FAFSA question: How little do you have to have in order to have little to no expected family contribution? I'm trying to figure out if I messed up my FAFSA, since UT's financial aid package said it expects 12k from my family. They aren't contributing a dime. I put down that I had a few grand in savings on the fafsa form, but that's for a car. After moving costs and initial rent, I will effectively have zero dollars to put towards law school. How the hell did I get a 12k expected family contribution?

This is relevant for me, as well. My parents will not be contributing anything, but I put their information on the FAFSA because I thought it was needed for some schools.

Parents' info doesn't affect the estimated family contribution for grad/professional school on the FAFSA. The FAFSA EFC should only be >0 if you have substantial personal income/assets.

[Legalese]

This Texas budget crisis blows.

Indeed. And not just for law students.

Yeah. One of my parents is a state employee and may get laid off at the end of the year.

Of course, I can't factor this into FAFSA. Which wouldn't matter anyway because Texas isn't offering grants. Ugh.

This no grants thing blows. Maybe this is the year where it pays to go to private institutions. Also what if tuition is raised down the road?

During his opening speech at ASD Dean Sager mentioned that while tuition is likely to increase in the future, they have every intention of keeping tuition constant for all 3 years of our legal educations. In other words, tuition increases would only affect incoming/future classes in the year they raise it. Hope this holds true.

Edit: Leira beat me to it.

[r6_philly]

During his opening speech at ASD Dean Sager mentioned that while tuition is likely to increase in the future, they have every intention of keeping tuition constant for all 3 years of our legal educations. In other words, tuition increases would only affect incoming/future classes in the year they raise it. Hope this holds true.

So if I understand it right, if they do raise tuition more than usual, it would only apply to incoming students? Like for example, for 2012-13, 2Ls will pay one price while 1Ls for that year will pay higher? (if they choose to raise it)

[akili]

During his opening speech at ASD Dean Sager mentioned that while tuition is likely to increase in the future, they have every intention of keeping tuition constant for all 3 years of our legal educations. In other words, tuition increases would only affect incoming/future classes in the year they raise it. Hope this holds true.

So if I understand it right, if they do raise tuition more than usual, it would only apply to incoming students? Like for example, for 2012-13, 2Ls will pay one price while 1Ls for that year will pay higher? (if they choose to raise it)

That's the impression that I got.

[Legalese]

During his opening speech at ASD Dean Sager mentioned that while tuition is likely to increase in the future, they have every intention of keeping tuition constant for all 3 years of our legal educations. In other words, tuition increases would only affect incoming/future classes in the year they raise it. Hope this holds true.

So if I understand it right, if they do raise tuition more than usual, it would only apply to incoming students? Like for example, for 2012-13, 2Ls will pay one price while 1Ls for that year will pay higher? (if they choose to raise it)

That's how I understood it. Sorry my explanation was a little confusing.

[nonprofit-prophet]

Anyone know how long they take to respond to matching requests? Also, a general FAFSA question: How little do you have to have in order to have little to no expected family contribution? I'm trying to figure out if I messed up my FAFSA, since UT's financial aid package said it expects 12k from my family. They aren't contributing a dime. I put down that I had a few grand in savings on the fafsa form, but that's for a car. After moving costs and initial rent, I will effectively have zero dollars to put towards law school. How the hell did I get a 12k expected family contribution?

This is relevant for me, as well. My parents will not be contributing anything, but I put their information on the FAFSA because I thought it was needed for some schools.

Parents' info doesn't affect the estimated family contribution for grad/professional school on the FAFSA. The FAFSA EFC should only be >0 if you have substantial personal income/assets.

What's substantial? I put down that I had like 6k in a savings account. But that is to buy a car and cover moving costs. That can't be enough to trigger a 12k a year family contribution, could it?

[Pricer]

During his opening speech at ASD Dean Sager mentioned that while tuition is likely to increase in the future, they have every intention of keeping tuition constant for all 3 years of our legal educations. In other words, tuition increases would only affect incoming/future classes in the year they raise it. Hope this holds true.

So if I understand it right, if they do raise tuition more than usual, it would only apply to incoming students? Like for example, for 2012-13, 2Ls will pay one price while 1Ls for that year will pay higher? (if they choose to raise it)

This applies to UGA and the University System of Georgia, so it may not be the same in Texas with UT and those schools. At UGA, tuition and fees increased each year I was in school. My tuition did not increase, though, as the school "locked" in our tuition price our first semester. The tuition increases only affected the incoming classes. Fee increases, however, affected everyone. UGA kind of screwed us students by raising fees each year to get money from all the students. The HOPE grant, which is supposed to cover all tuition and fees at any public school in Georgia, stopped covering the additional fees the school was tacking on, forcing students to pay out of pocket. It wasn't much (maybe $100 a semester out of pocket), but it was still kind of unethical after we were promised HOPE would cover all our costs for the school.

[japes]

If my memory serves me correctly, Texas' UG tuition was not locked in. I could, however, be mistaken. It is also worth noting that the Law School functions separately from the rest of the campus.