Living in Austin

• Housing

• Setting up utilities

• Others ASAP

• Getting a car

• Parking at UT

• School for your children

Housing

Every student and specially international students felt the same when we arrived here. Although we have a PAST EXPERIENCE on this issue, we don't have all the answers. Housing is a very personal matter, some people look for certain characteristics, others just care about the price, there are single and married students so we can only write down some comments and YOU will have to decide it.

Austin is a great city with lots of nice places for living. You will definitely love living here. This city is amazing and in the past few years it has experience an incredible growth rate. There is housing for every lifestyle and, what's more important, for every budget. 
 

One of the key things for choosing a place to live is that the UT shuttle passes in front of it. For a complete list of the UT shuttle routes visit: http://www.utexas.edu/parking/shuttle/index.html. Another key thing is whether you have children going to school, because you might choose where to live based in the school location

Neighborhood Descriptions 

Average monthly rent for a one bedroom in Austin is between $600 and $700 in most places. For two bedroom places the rent is between 850-1000. Of course, there are always cheaper and more expensive places than these averages.

We could not tell you that any area is better than other, it depends on individual tastes and preferences. Some people prefer to walk to school, others ride their bikes, others take the Shuttle and some others drive.
 

 University Apartments

The University Apartments are approximately six miles from the University campus. Although a convenient bicycle ride or a short drive, there are shuttle bus stops located throughout the Brackenridge complex and along the streets for Gateway and Colorado.

To be eligible for residence in the University Apartments, you must be accepted for admission to the University as acknowledged only through the Office of Admissions.

You must be a full-time student at the University, registered for a minimum of 12 semester hours undergraduate (three semester hours for both summer terms) or nine semester hours graduate or law (three semester hours for both summer terms), and actively pursuing a degree at the University. Registration for six hours dissertation credit satisfies the full-time student requirement. In addition, students must be married and living with their spouses, or be a single parent, who is head of the household and living with the children. A limited number of single graduate apartments are available. Other extended family members may be allowed to reside with you under certain circumstances. For more information visit: http://www.utexas.edu/student/housing/family/index.html

Setting up utilities

When you move in your apartment will already have energy and water. You will need to set up the telephone and gad yourself. Call the telephone company of your choice and ask for a new line. It is not required to have a Social Security Number for setting up a new line. If the customer service representative tells you that you need a SSN, hang up and call again! The first bill will be the most expensive as the bill is charged in advance. For your first bill you will pay for installation + the days of the current month you will use + the next month.

If you plan on calling your home country it will be wise to subscribe for a basic long-distance program. If you do not subscribe to any long-distance program you can pay as much as US$3/minute + taxes. You can use your local carrier for long-distance or you can also choose among ATT www.att.com, MCI www.mci.com, Sprint www.sprint.com and Verizon www.verizon.com. Be sure to ask for special promotions or special packages – these companies usually have a specific package for certain countries (India, Brazil etc…) or region of the world, such as Europe. There is also a cheap but good web company for international calls: www.solollama.com, it works like a calling card but prices are among the lowest in the market.

Ask you apartment complex landlord about setting up gas supply. In most places there are electric ovens, but water heater are generally powered with gas. It 

IMPORTANT: Some places will pay for some of your utilities bills. Usually, no place will pay for your energy.

Others ASAP

Go to the International Office to meet your international advisor. She/he will give you a letter for you to obtain a Social Security Number. You need to go to the Social Security office in Austin in order to get your Social Security Number, it arrives within 2 weeks after your application through the mail, so you need to have an apartment before going to the Social Security office. The only downside: the line at the Social Security office is usually one hour long.

You should schedule and appointment at the Health Services and get the PPD skin test done. If you do not get your test done you will get a bar, which means you will not be able to register for your fifth class. The test takes less than 2 minutes and you need to go back to health services within 48 hours to get your result.

You can get your Student ID as it is in the same building as the Health Services and get you UT ID updated to highest security. This procedure usually takes 5-10 minutes.

IMPORTANT: when you get your social security number you may chose to update it in your UT record. It is a painless process but it will require you to get a new student ID. DO NOT DO IT CLOSE TO MIDTERMS OR REGISTRATION PERIOD – it may cause you trouble. Wait until after registration and don change it less than 2 weeks before midterms. This is not a necessary thing to do, it does not matter if you don't do it.

Getting a Car

In Texas you can't drive unless you have a Texas Driver's License, and you can only get one if you already have a Social Security Number. That's why the Social Security Number is very important. The sooner you have it, the sooner you'll get your Driver's License. To get you SSN you need a letter from the UT International Office. For details see Others ASAP in this page.

IMPORTANT!!!
You can drive in Texas with your driver's license of your home country but only for a limited number of days. So you have to get the Texas driver's license

Only after you have a Social Security Number (we are going to be insistent with this!) you can go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (there are three offices, South Congress, North Lamar and I 183 in the Northwest) and take the two tests to get your Driver's License. For more info check: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/driver_licensing_control/dlindex.htm

The first test is theory and you can take it on a computer or by hand. If you study, your chances of passing it right on the first time increase. Visit the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV from now on) and ask for a Driver's Manual. Read it for a couple hours, focus in the last pages questions and the chapter on signals and take the test. 

After the theory test you have to take the practical test. For the test you need a car, it may be a friend's car or a rented car. In case it's a rented car, be sure that the rental company authorizes you to take a test on their car. In some contracts there are clauses prohibiting the use of the car for driving tests and inspectors may look at that.

You can't drive it unless you have the minimum required insurance. The dealer will try to sell you insurance or maybe he will offer you calling one of his friends who "casually" happens to be in the car insurance business... DON'T DO THAT! Chances are that you will need up paying much more than if you go shopping around. If you use your credit card, you can have immediate coverage. Some of these companies are:

Progressive: http://www.auto-insurance.com/

Geico: http://www.geico.com/

State Farm: http://www.statefarm.com/

Regarding financing, as a foreigner it is almost impossible to get financing for your car, because you won’t have credit history in the U.S., so you will have to pay cash. Usually, it is safer to buy a car from a GM, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, etc. dealer. If you are planning on buying a used car, it is extremely advisable to use Lemon Busters (www.lemonbusters.com) to check the used car you selected. As a general reference on car  `

Parking at UT

The parking availability for students at UT is limited, but there are two ways for you to park your car at the UT Campus, and they are not difficult to obtain:

• C permit: the only on-campus parking permit that students (unless they teach) are allowed. It costs $80/year and allows you to park by the stadium (10-15 min walk to the Business School) or across the freeway (an then take a bus to the school). By 8 AM almost all parking spots are full, so if you buy this permit you’ll need to get early to school (anyway you’ll probably have 2 out of 4 days classes at 7:45 AM)

• Parking Garage #5: public garage. It costs $480/year (including the summer) or $430 (without the summer). Normal ratings in public garages are in average $7/day. This is a closed garage, by the stadium, and you’ll always find a place to park. Go to Parking Garage #5 to find out when they sell the parking right.

• Park & Ride: if your home is not by the shuttle route, it is common to use the free park & rides, there are many around Austin. You park your car and take the UT shuttle to the Business School. Depending on the bus, you’ll have to walk more or less to the school, but the maximum will be around 15 minutes.

For more information, please visit: http://www.utexas.edu/parking/
 

School for your children

As in most cities you have two options: public and private schools. We are going to focus in the public schools since private ones are expensive, and Austin has good public education.

Each school district makes most of it's own decisions about curriculum and instruction. Then within each district you find a wide range of programs (both good and bad unfortunately). 

The public school you go to depends on where you live. When you move into an apartment complex or home, the realtor or management should be able to tell you what school you will attend. You are welcome to make a visit to a school to see what it is like and talk with the principal of the school. The school will provide transportation if it is not within walking distance. You can ask to be transferred to a school you are not zoned to attend but this is a difficult process that is often not granted. Therefore, it becomes important to choose carefully where you live.

In the places most UT MBA students live, their children would attend Austin Independent School District. There is also Eanes Independent School District (west side of town in the Westlake area) and Round Rock Independent School District (north side of town). In Austin ISD, most schools have a strong bilingual program since it serves a large Hispanic population. 

School begins in mid-August and runs through late May with a Christmas break and spring break. When you register at your school (they have registration the week before school starts) you will need to bring the following information with you: birth certificate, immunization record, proof of residency (a copy of your lease or a bill that shows your address), social security card (will not apply to international families)
Students may begin to attend public schools if they are age 5 by September 1st of that year. 

Most school districts and private schools have websites so definitely search the internet.

For more information please visit:

www.austin.isd.tenet.edu

www.austin.isd.tenet.edu/k12/schools/campuslist.phtml