Our Mission
The Senate of College Councils, or Senate for short, has one main mission: advocating for and enriching the academic experience of the UT community. Some of the impacts we have made in the past are helping create the International Relations and Global Studies major, increasing the availability of Pass/Fail options for students, and much, much more. Through our eight committees, we try to work towards improving all facets of student's lives, from fostering undergraduate research through our Undergraduate Research Committee to increasing the accessibility of the UT application process through our Recruitment and Retention Committee. Our Fundraising Committee works to support students' financial well-being and access to opportunities with financial barriers.
"I'm so grateful for the Senate of College Councils Study Abroad Scholarship. The costs of studying abroad can get pretty steep, especially with trips like mine to Botswana. I gained so much from this experience, including confidence in myself to do scary, intimidating, hard things; live immersed in a foreign country and really get to know the people and issues they face; and learn so much about climate change impacts and research projects that will carry me into my future career. Thank you for helping make this a reality for me!"- Heather Jefts, Study Abroad Scholarship Recipient
2023-2024 Senate of College Councils
Scholarship Recipients
Our Method
Financial wellness is one of, if not the, most important factors of student happiness. We believe that financial constraints should not hinder students from realizing their full potential and pursuing their academic dreams The main way in which we strive to remove financial barriers at UT is through the 5 scholarships we give out to students every year:These scholarships are awarded by a student and staff committee based on a holistic review process. Last year, we had 277 scholarship applications and gave out over $9,500 in scholarships.
"The William C. Powers Scholarship has allowed me to dedicate more time to volunteering with a free clinic, and to researching ways to improve health outcomes in the Austin community. I am incredibly grateful for this scholarship, and the opportunities it has allowed me to pursue!"
- Liana Chen, William C. Powers Scholarship recipient
Senate's 2024-2025 Leadership Team
Your Contribution
In Senate, we are constantly looking to improve our ability to advocate for students. Not only are we raising the money necessary to continue giving out student scholarships this year, but we are also hoping to increase the amount of money we can give out. This semester, thanks to a focus on maximizing our outreach, we have had over 500 applications to our Non-Traditional Student Scholarship alone! Last year for HornRaiser we raised $6,000, but with the increased amount of applications we are getting, we hope to increase the amount of awards we can give out to students.
Thank you for your donation, which will go entirely towards funding our scholarships and thus directly improve the lives of remarkable UT students!
Senate's 2024-2025 Executive Board
In 1973, the Constitution of the Senate of College Councils was officially approved by the Board of Regents, marking our origins as an official voice in academics.
This year marks 51 years since Senate was officially approved as an organization, and 51 years that we've been serving the UT community.
This semester, thanks to our newly-established Outreach Ad-hoc, we've received over 500 applicants for our Nontraditional Student Scholarship alone, more than 10 times the amount we got last year!
With this donation you can fund the entirety of a student's scholarship!
Through your donation you will contribute $500 to all of our scholarships, funding half of a student's scholarship for each scholarship we give out!