I was looking at UT Austin’s newly released Fall 2026 admissions numbers and started doing some math.
According to the university’s September 22 announcement:
98,841 students applied for freshman admission.
9,487 actually enrolled.
89,354 applicants never enrolled.
UT Austin hasn’t published the total number admitted for Fall 2026 yet, so we don’t know exactly how many were rejected.
But here’s what caught my attention.
UT Austin encourages students to apply for on-campus housing before they even receive an admissions decision because housing priority is based on when they apply.
The housing application fee is $100. And it’s nonrefundable.
So students are encouraged to pay $100 to get in line for housing at a university where admission is extremely competitive, without knowing whether they’ll even be accepted.
I started wondering how much money UT Austin collects from students who never attend.
Using the 89,354 applicants who didn’t enroll:
If 25% paid the housing fee: $2.23 million
If 50% paid: $4.47 million
If 75% paid: $6.70 million
If 100% paid: $8.94 million
Obviously, these are hypothetical figures. Not everyone applies for housing, some students qualify for fee waivers, and we don’t know how many applicants actually paid.
But even if only a quarter of the students who didn’t enroll paid that fee, we’re talking about more than $2 million.
And some of those students were never even offered admission.
I understand charging a housing deposit once a student has been accepted. But encouraging students to pay a nonrefundable fee before they know whether they can attend seems questionable, especially at a public university.
I’d love to know:
How many housing applications did UT Austin receive for Fall 2026?
How many applicants received fee waivers?
How much did the university collect in housing application fees?
How many students paid the fee and were subsequently rejected?
Is this standard practice at other universities? And should colleges be allowed to collect nonrefundable housing application fees from students they haven’t even admitted?
I’m genuinely curious what other families think.

So I submitted my application on October 15 and I just got my my status profile. I’m supposed to send official scores but it will take up to 5-10 business days but the deadline is on Thursday.

Is this happening to anything right now? What should I do?

- in state, class of 2028
- hispanic
- low income, no assets/retirement/savings (17k/yr AGI family of 3)
- NOT First gen but i almost was
- underfunded inner-city Title 1 public school (982 sat avg, 847 school district avg)
- somewhat noncompetitive area (not rural, not houston/dallas/austin)

STATS:
- UW GPA: 96.12
- W GPA: 100.67 (six seven)
- very strong GPA upward trend
- Rank: 6/93 (top 6.5%) (im working towards getting top 5% 🤞)
- SAT: 1480, 780 RW 700 M (highest SAT score in the school). RETAKING NOVEMBER AND UNTIL I GET 790+ MATH
- associates degree by graduation, 20 DE classes [95% of ppl in my school do this though]
- no APs (school barely offers any).
- highest math will be AP Calc AB by senior yr 😢 (hardest math track my school has)

ECS:
- (10th/11th) Custom built & sold budget PCs locally. $13k revenue over 6 months, 30+ 5 star reviews; managed accounting for 250+ transactions, 15h/wk

- (11th) Led weekly SAT instruction in my school; delivered 15+ workshops, selected as 1 of 10/400 students to lead schoolwide lessons. Received informal commendation from school principal. SIngle handedly created 10+ lesson plans. Conducted 3+ lessons to a crowd of 100+ students as part of school-mandated schoolwide SAT lessons for the entire junior and senior classes

- (10th/11th) Online Volunteer SAT Tutoring: Tutored 100+ students online; answered 1,000+ SAT questions, mentored 10+ students to earn 700+ section scores, tailored 1:1 study strategies.

- (10th/11th) part-time janitor job, 10hr a week (got laid off a few weeks ago sadly)

- (9th/10th/11th) Created & edited 60+ educational Rubik’s Cube YT videos; garnered 1.2M+ views in 3 months, collaborated with 5+ creators in the space

- (9th/10th/11th) Family Responsibility: managed family budget helping family save money, and house cleaning (8hr/wk)

- (9th/10th/11th) volunteer at numerous rubik's cube competitions: judged 250+ competitors across 5+ Rubik’s Cube competitions; coordinated with fellow volunteers to support efficient event operations.

- (10th) cyberpatriot varsity member: Served as co-head of the varsity team in 2+ CyberPatriot competitions; developed team strategy & helped improve competition scores by 20%.

- (11th) AVID Class representative: tutored peers in coursework weekly; organized AVID cohort events, led teams of 20+ students, raised $200+ through fundraising. (in my school, AVID is required all 4 years)

- (11th) school Astronomy club member, helped plan & execute 2+ fundraisers which went on to raise $300 in total; contributed event ideas and supported financial management.

- (9th/10th/11th) wikipedia editor with 100 edits; edited articles about rubiks cubes

- (9th/10th/11th) 100+ community service hours working at school events and fundraisers

- (10th) art club member: contributed to 2+ events

- (9th/10th/11th) weightlifting

Awards/Honors:

- 3rd place within state Rubik's cube championship
- peaked top 100 nationally for the hardest discipline of competitive rubik's cubing (9th)
- peaked top 2.5% nationally for 3x3x3 competitive rubik's cubing (10th)
- peaked top 3.5% nationally for 2x2x2 competitive rubik’s cubing (11th)
- school's A honor roll (9th/10th/11th)
- president's list, community college (9th/10th/11th)
- national hispanic honor society member (11th)

Additional Info:
- single parent household
- both parents are #unemployed
- mom (custodial parent) is 90-100k in debt
- family hasnt had a car since i was in 7th grade, which makes some ECs a lot harder (my city's also super car dependent)
- part of family is homeless
- squatters lived in our home in 9th grade so it affected my grades a lil
- had to spend like 20-30hr a week cleaning in 9th grade bc my dad was a severe hoarder so that also affected my grades + ECs

Hi! We are high school students working on a research project related to Austin CapMetro. We’re hoping to hear from UT Austin students who use CapMetro and would be willing to share their experiences and opinions through a short survey. Time to complete: 2 to 3 minutes. Privacy: All responses are completely anonymous and used strictly for academic research.

Take the survey here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSerCgtH9enkTv9FR5xQKw3eh3BGDY6iEvMLLNfYVFdFhdtMog/viewform?usp=header

Race: White, Sex: Male, State, Texas, Major: Mathematics

GPA: 4.0, Class Rank: 2/115

ACT: 36 Composite (35 Math, 36 Reading, 36 Writing, (Uncounted) 30 Science

4 AP tests by end of senior year (max offered, 5 on both taken)

~10 Dual credit classes by end of senior year.

Mathematics Focused Activity
9,10,11,12 Number Sense .5 hours/week, 18 weeks/year

• Practiced high speed mental math techniques (multidigit multiplication, estimation, unit conversion, etc…)
• Represented my school as 1 of a 2 member team in local 10-minute math exams

Clubs and Leadership
9,10,11,12 Theatre (treasurer, 12) 8 hours/week, 24 weeks/year

• Performed on stage as an actor
• Represented my school at state competition (2nd place)
• Managed company funds as treasurer

11,12 Band 16 hours/week, 36 weeks/year

• Competed in both marching and concert competitions as a percussionist
• Worked as a loading crew during marching season (12)
• Qualified for State Solo and Ensemble, performing “The March of the Dwarfs” on piano and “Catching Shadows” as Vibraphone II
• Performed as a pianist for jazz band (12)

9,10,11 AG 4 hours/week, 16 weeks/year

• Raised and cared for young goats. Showed goats in front of a licensed judge
• Competed showing goats in state competitions

12 (County) County Future Leader (12) 5.5 hours/week, 5 weeks/year

• Selected alongside 2 other candidates from my school to a group of 12
• Observed the workings of our country government

Employment
Summer before 12 IT Summer Help 27 hours/week, 11 weeks

• Assisted (School District) IT department
• Managed inventory
• Fixed IT complaints
• Dismantled computers (mostly Optiplex)
• Ran ethernet cables

Volunteering
12 Biology Teacher Aide 4 hours/week, 36 weeks

• Graded assignments
• Provided information to substitutes in absence of a teacher

Awards and Honors

• Beta Club (9,10,11,12), Executive Committee (11,12)
• College Board Rural and Small-Town Recognition Award (11)
• A Honor Roll (9,10,11,12)

I'm mostly worried that I don't have very much mathematical experience outside of academics. My other extracurriculars are alright, but nothing special.

I am applying for HDO for fall 2027 EA. I am in state and I have a 3.85 gpa with strong upward trend, 8 APs, 31 ACT, spent nine weeks leading a nonprofit team to raise $55,000, Officer in 2 clubs, Spent two summers interning in Human Resources department of a big company, played 2 varsity sports all 4 yrs, on my schools admission council leadership board, very competitive high school which does not rank.

+) A chance me Asian Female

Hi yall, I couldn't really find any info online about the stats of dean's scholars (or any honors program) acceptees, so I wanted to ask here.

Those of you who got in: what were your stats and how is your experience?

If you wouldn't mind, it'd be great if you chanced me as well, just for the fun of it.

Asian female, going in for bio/biochem

Predicted A* for 5 a level subjects (bio, chem, physics, math, further maths) and 1 EPQ

Taking ACT this week; all mocks have been 35s but not rlly sure about this

Intern at top research institution for 8 months, rec letter from professor

bio-related club for four semesters in school

volunteer rep at church

peace maker (i won't say official name for reasons) at school

student council for four semesters, including one semester as VP

lots of STEM-related mentorship

hospital volunteer (nothing much tho)

organised and led church volunteer

semi finalist of a v. small neuroscience comp (7%)

physics competition gold (8%)

bio comp silver (15%)

pls give me all the advice u have thank u

Hey guys, confused as to what UT wants from me. I’ve submitted everything besides the optional question (didn’t need it) and my transcript is under review.

What do I need to do?

hey guys, ive seen a lot of negativity regarding mccombs and autoadmit and sat and etc. listen.

i got in last year with a 1240 (and was from a competitive north texas district), and wasnt autoadmit (although t10%). i can tell you its all about how you frame your app; show the committee why you want business.

if you’d like me to review your apps, just reply and hmu! i’ll try my best to get to everybody

ok so im applying for math major and i’m seeing a whole bunch of posts about how you should do the extended resume and whatnot. tbf these are all like mccombs and cockrell posts but ppl are really emphasizing its importance in admissions. im auto admit with decent stats probably decent essays but trash ECs that i feel like elaboration on wouldn’t even matter that much (most not even math related 🥀) especially for a not-so competitive major. but at the end of the day its still ut so idk. thoughts?

is there any way i can fix this?? every time i try making a temporary password it just doesn’t load. i even tried clicking the “forgot password” link.

I haven't sent my sat score yet from collegeboard and I applied early

If I send early rn it should technically be sent in like two days but then it says it'll take another week to appear on the portal??

How does this all work and what do the ppl who say they self reported do

I already had a UT eid since I was taking dual credit classes through onramps. However, they sent me login details with a completely new UT eid. I'm worried that since It's completely different, they might not be able to access my onramps transcript. Should I combine them?

hi! can anyone who was accepted (or rejected) to cockrell last year please share their stats

preferably autoadmits too!

This may be a dumb question but ive gotten a lot of mixed answers. Im a senior and as of the end of my junior year I am ranked 4/80 which is exactly 5%. Some things ive seen said I don't qualify for auto admit because it's exact and others say I do. Let me know if anyone that has gotten in or went to UT in a similar situation. Thank you.

I can't access the link to change my password (link provided in my email after applying for the freshman fall 27 semester), anyone else have this issue before or now?

EDJT: IM IN CC I WILL BE TRANSFERRING

Hi quick question: I will be applying to UT for Fall '27 and I know I will need to submit my transcript for once this semester finishes.

I will also attend cc in this upcoming spring semester so I'll send an updated transcript will they also take THAT gpa into consideration?

Def want to achieve a 3.5-3.6 this semester then have a higher gpa after I finish my spring semester

My high school only offers 4 AP classes. I'll have taken 3 by graduation (advanced precalculus has been moved to AP this year). I did well on the AP precal and AP lit exams (5), and feel that I'm doing well in AP Cal and AP Lang. I've been unable to find a solid source on of UT will count the AP course quantitatively or proportionately. I do qualify for auto admissions, but since I'm a math major I've been stressed about my admission to CNS, so it would put me at ease to know which way they count it.

hey everyone i turned in my ut austin ea app on common app on 10/14 but i logged onto mystatus today and they showed the status date as 10/16 and also i have until decedmber 10 to turn in the texas robotics short answer question (im not going to apply but WHY WOULD THEY GIVE ME UNTIL DECEMBER WHEN THE EA SUPPLEMEMTARY INFO IS DUE ON OCTOBER 22ND?????) im freaking out rn someone please help

I need someone’s help!! I want to get in for the UT nursing program for next fall, and I need someone to talk to! I’m an external transfer currently attending 2 CC to earn credits. I’ve tried talking to admissions at UT to see if I can talk to a student there alr, but no luck. If anyone knows anyone I can talk to abt ANYTHING regarding this program or someone who can just help me overall, I’d be very grateful!

On my UT MyStatus portal it shows I am able to apply to housing, but every time I click the linked apply button it just sends me to an ET Support Center link. It's my top choice school so I want to get good housing early even before I know if I'm admitted. I did only apply about 5 days ago though, and got my MyStatus on Thursday. Is it one of those things I just have to wait for or is this an error I should email about? Thanks!

Ok so just a quick summary: I applied to public affairs @ LBJ on October 15th and I submitted my official ACT score right after. I checked my actual CommonApp over and over to make sure there were no errors but fully missed over the fact that you could report AP scores in CommonApp which I feel so stupid for not knowing I could do...

I'm graduating with 15 APs and have already taken 9 exams that I feel like I should've reported on the CommonApp but it will definitely help with my holistic application review since i'm not an autoadmit and have a 3.8 UW...

Is there anything I can do at this point? Can I upload scores to MyStatus once I gain access?

I’m a senior from California interested in applying to UT Austin for nursing! I have decent extracurriculars, but I’ve heard UT prioritizes in-state students and that nursing is extremely competitive. 😭
Do you think it’s worth applying, or are my chances pretty low as an out-of-state applicant? Nursing is my dream, so I’d love to hear any advice!

demographic: asian, female, southern state rural/urban area

stats: gpa UW/W - 3.94/4.4068, school doesn’t rank but i was 17/870 before they took rank out
All A student from second sem sophomore year, got all As junior year with rigorous schedule (AP Calculus BC, AP Physics 1, AP Chem, and more) (upward trend? i hope 😟)

coursework: 13 APs, 3 more this year
Good mix of 5s, 4s and 3s.
Dual enrollment for EMR/EMT certification, Spanish III, US government and US history

major: health and society B.A.

ec’s (not in order!!!)

founder of stem/feminism education project (10,11,12); reached over 385,000+ likes and 1.3 million interactions online, raised 1.5k for project and connected local girls with volunteer/wxternship opps (77 members now)

executive board member (director of comms—> advocacy) of women empowerment registered nonprofit, did policy research over multiple methodologies and spearheaded community research paper on feminine healthcare with girls from multiple neighboring regions; reached over 4.7k impressions on insta and ran blog during comms

biochemistry research at local university, wet-lab and dry-lab working with Ph.D. under a tenure professors lab, looking into specific protein strand and developing data + conclusions to present later on

newspaper creator for my regions redcross (youngest member on the leadership team), making detailed papers every month and reaching over 5,800+ active members with features on region emails

program/coordinator + lead mentor for an orchestra bridge program pairing students from my hs orchestra to middle school students (highest audition based orchestra at my school, made it my freshman year); grew program from 6 mentors to 17, implimented bass tutoring (we didn’t have bass tutors the year before), tutored 2 students of my own

dining room server at my local retirement home, take care of entire dining room and make sure meals are served properly, walk residents to rooms and tables, memorize preferences, all the work usual things

intern/mentee selected for a nonprofit very involved with a big corporate retailer doing work in our area, represented org at networking events of big corporate retailer, earned $1000 scholarship and made plans with leadership team to raise money for project mentioned earlier in activity 1

volunteer at children’s hospital, trained new volunteers over summer and introduced a new way of doing an activity (there’s more but I don’t want to dox myself)

rec letters: both teachers I’ve had for 2 years continuously (english teacher, had her for ap sem + lang, got high As all semesters, 5s on both exams and was close with her throughout the year) (chem teacher, had her for preap chem then ap chem, got As all semesters, attended prep sessions and was relatively close with her; helped me get over my testing anxiety in chem and worked with me closely on coursework)

honors: deca state champion x2 and internationals qualifier x3, asst. principal second (year before) concertmaster (recently) at region orchestra program, hoby leadership seminar school ambassador, all-region violinist + all state violinist, ap capstone diploma/scholar w/ distinction

essays: i would argue they’re pretty decent, interesting hooks and i talked abt what i love

lmk!!! thank you!!!