Longhorn Opportunity Scholarship

The first Longhorn Opportunity Scholarships (LOS) were awarded to students in economically disadvantaged and historically underserved Texas communities in 1999. Based on goals espoused by former University of Texas at Austin President Larry Faulkner and the work of the Office of Student Financial Services, the program has since awarded more than 1,100 students over $11.7 million. The $5,000 per year, four year scholarships work with the President's Achievement Scholarship program to help students who might never have considered UT come and succeed.

In a sense, the Longhorn Opportunity Scholarship is under-named. More than simply a scholarship, the program has served as the catalyst for the creation of a comprehensive academic community development package with a three-fold aim: to identify students who might not have otherwise had the opportunity to attend The University; to deploy University resources to attract these students to Austin; and most importantly, to give these students the resources and attention that will help them to excel academically and ultimately become alumni of The University of Texas at Austin.

This program is community-based rather than individually-based. Accordingly, a fixed number of scholarships are set aside for each LOS high school and awarded to its most deserving students.

LOS works with both the top 10% admissions standard, which guarantees those who graduate in the top 10% of their high school class admission to the public Texas university of their choice. Many students from LOS high schools are awarded a Presidential Achievement Scholarship (PAS). The PAS is similar to LOS in its aims of bringing under-represented students to Austin but uses a broader adversity index than LOS and applies it to individuals as opposed to high schools. These three programs, LOS, PAS, and the top 10% standard, work synergistically to enhance economic and ethnic diversity at UT. The top 10% admission standard insures that a wide cross section of Texans has access to a quality education at the state's flagship institution. LOS and PAS, in turn, work to make it financially possible for disadvantaged students to enroll at UT Austin. The broader support mechanisms, including efforts by the Division of Housing and Food Services and the Honors Office, provide a number of targeted programs designed to get LOS students to participate and succeed in The University of Texas at Austin community.