The Brutal Truth
Most college students aren’t really students.
Here’s the brutal truth: most college students aren’t really students.
The word student comes from Latin words meaning someone who applies themselves with focused intensity and painstaking effort.
Does that sound like the average college kid?
The average college “student” spends less than two hours a day on schoolwork. Two-thirds admit they’re willing to cheat rather than put in the effort. At Harvard and Yale, 80% of all grades are A-minus or above. Does that sound intense or painstaking?
Here’s another uncomfortable truth: most so-called “students” are perfectly content with this. They’ll happily go into debt — or let their parents foot the $80,000-a-year bill — for glorified daycare with a diploma at the end. A diploma, by the way, that no longer signals intelligence or ability. Employers know it. “Students” know it.
That’s why we started the University of Austin (UATX). We built UATX for those who actually want to learn. Students who think education should involve effort and challenge. Students who are willing to apply themselves with seriousness and purpose.
We don’t inflate grades. We don’t hand out trophies for showing up. Our average GPA is low by design — because excellence should mean something. We rank students. We reward hard work. Yes, it’s demanding.
It’s also deeply liberating. We take liberal education seriously—in its original sense: education that liberates the mind from lazy conformity. Our students engage with the great books and the great minds — across centuries and civilizations — to wrestle with the timeless questions every human must face — what gives life meaning? what is justice? what makes us human? — not to confirm their opinions, but to challenge them.
We realize this isn't for everyone—certainly not for “students.”
But if you're actually a student — if you crave challenge over comfort, if you want your mind sharpened rather than soothed — then you deserve more than an expensive babysitting service with a certificate. You deserve an education that honors what you are: someone willing to apply themselves with focused intensity and painstaking effort in pursuit of truth.
If this sounds like you — or someone you know — the application only takes five minutes:
On board 100% with your mission & model, so needed currently. I only wish you could accommodate adult learners, perhaps as UATX inevitably grow this will become possible. Keep up the amazing work.
I am glad you still call your enrollees “students”.
Many others call them “learners”. Not a good change.
Thank you.