Dear Friend,
Right now, college freshmen across the country are unpacking dorm rooms, scrolling through campus maps on their phones, and figuring out which dining hall has the best options.
Our freshmen are doing something different.
This month, our newest class begins orientation by putting their phones away for days. Instead of staring at screens, they will hike the Barton Creek Greenbelt, swim at Barton Springs, and discuss the Iliad in daily seminars. They will learn to debate with rigor and generosity. They will be challenged physically, intellectually, and personally before their first day of class even begins.
This is not a summer camp. It is a deliberate introduction to what we expect of them: show up fully, engage seriously, and rise to the occasion.
And every year, they do.
Our students do not come here looking for the easy path. They come because they want to be pushed. They want to read difficult texts, wrestle with hard questions, and be surrounded by people who refuse to let them coast.
We designed UATX to meet that ambition. Every admitted undergraduate student attends tuition-free, not because of a test score, but because we believe that if we are going to ask this much of our students, cost should never be the barrier.
That is only possible because we refuse government funding and rely entirely on people like you.
Our independence is what allows us to build a university around truth and intellectual seriousness rather than political mandates or institutional conformity. But independence has a cost, and that cost is borne by the people who believe this work matters.
As a new class of students begins their journey at UATX this month, will you consider making your first gift to help us keep building?
https://donate.uaustin.org/august-appeal
Every dollar you give is a vote of confidence in these students and in the idea that American higher education can still demand excellence.
Thank you for being part of what we are building.
Carlos Carvalho
President, University of Austin