Texas is famous for everything big. It has big roads, big colleges, big parties, big farms, and even big people. Not surprisingly, Texas is also big on education. Universities in the "Lone Star State" go to great lengths in order to attract the country's best and
brightest. So whether you want to study engineering, agriculture, philosophy, or web site design, Texas is guaranteed to have an award-winning program to suit your needs. Colleges in this region of the country thrive on competition and achievements.
Texas private colleges and universities offer a wide range of education programs with degrees and certificates up to the doctoral level, as well as professional degrees such as law and medicine. These Texas private schools are diverse in character, academic emphasis, and origins. Some private colleges or schools have a religious affiliation; others are secular. Private colleges and universities may be profit or non-profit institutions. Typically,
Texas independent colleges or private schools give weight to personal characteristics and activities in addition to considering GPA and test scores. While many
Texas private schools are considerably more expensive than comparable state institutions, they also tend to offer more generous financial aid packages. Many students have found the actual out-of-pocket cost to earn a degree from a private college in Texas to be less than the cost of the state schools to which they were accepted. On the one hand, public colleges are usually less expensive, particularly for in-state residents. They get most of their money from the state or local government. Check out your state's Guide to Residency.
Texas private colleges rely on tuition, fees, endowments, and other private sources of funding. On the other hand, Texas private colleges are usually smaller and can offer more personalized attention (and some believe, more prestige).
ICUT, a nonprofit association, is the voice for Texas' fully accredited 40 member institutions. For almost 40 years, it has fulfilled its mission of helping policymakers recognize the importance and value of the independent sector of higher
education by successfully articulating the sector's needs and aspirations.
ICUT has four purposes. First, the organization speaks for its member independent colleges and universities as they serve and promote the purposes of the total Texas higher education system and accept the responsibility for their share of the educational function. In addition, ICUT
represents the interests and protects and promotes the general welfare of the nonprofit, tax-exempt independent colleges and universities located in the State of Texas.
Colleges and universities in Texas are big. They have big campuses. They have big football teams. They have big academic reputations. And they have big expectations of their students.
