Austin

From Foreignliving

Revision as of 07:53, 17 January 2007

Note: most of the US-related pages are stubs for now. Help out by filling information or asking someone you know to contribute.

This page is part of a broader series of information pages aimed at helping the Pakistani/Muslim community in the US. Here you will find Austin-specific information only, for general information on living in the US, see Living in the US.

Austin is the capital of Texas, and home to the University of Texas at Austin, better known as simply UT Austin.

Austin is known as the live music capital of the world.

The most famous place in Austin and Makah of all the students, residents and visitors of Austin (leave geeks and nerds out) is the 6th Street. This is the most happening place in Austin where you can party all night long, even all semester long. You have to dress well and smell well if you want the 6th street magic to work for you. The preferred and most liked club by local Pakistani community on 6th street is Exodus where the girls are easy, music is good and entry is cheap.

Austenite take great pride in being different and eccentric. "Keep Austin Weird" has become the city's motto but only very few Pakistani try it out for the fear of communal ridicule.

Essential Paperwork

Social Security

(Office location and instructions go here. Who's eligible and who's not. Can you get SSN if you dont work? What if you're on a scholarship)

The social-security cards assigned to non-resident aliens say "For work authorization only". As such, they are often rejected by many services that usually ask for social security numbers, such as when applying for a credit card at Bank of America.

Even if you do not plan to work, it is a good idea to get a social security number because it helps you build your credit history which is a necessity in US.

Below is the address of the Social Security Office.

Social Security Office 1029 Camino La Costa Austin, TX 78752 512-206-3700 Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, you may visit the Immigration and Social Security page online, or call:

• General Information: 800-772-1213
• TTY: 800-325-0778

For bus routes to reach this site you may use capmetro bus service online website http://www.capmetro.org/

Texas State ID

Highly recommended. Helps avoid carrying your passport everywhere, and ringing alarm bells whenever someone sees as Pakistani ID. Note that if you get a driving license instead, then there is no need for a Texas ID.

Getting a Texas ID is very trivial. It just costs 15 dollars. Following is the contact information and addresses for the issuing offices.

Driver's license customer service phone: 512-424-2600 Driver's license e-mail: License.issuance@txdps.state.tx.us

Austin North Lamar (Closest to UT. Take 1L or 1M bus from Guadalupe) 6121 N. Lamar Blvd. 512-424-2076 Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Tuesday 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

Austin South 4719 S. Congress Ave. 512-444-5241 Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

RENEWAL AND DUPLICATE LICENSES ONLY Austin Capitol 1500 N. Congress Ave. 512-936-2100 Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Austin Northwest 13730 Research Blvd. 512-335-8131 Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Wednesday 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

Driver's License

Highly recommended. Will help reduce insurance premium a few years from now, even if you don't drive in the meantime. The office locations are the same as mentioned in the Texas ID section.

• (where to get it from? The general procedure)
• (online link for the texas drivers handbook)

Banking

(It would be nice if someone could import information from the International Office's one-page handout on opening bank accounts, which specifies which of them require a SSN and which of them don't, etc.)

Opening a Bank Account

Few things should always be considered when opening an account:

• What are the associated fees (specifically ask for it: start asking too many questions)? Are there any annual fees, ATM related fees, branch visit fees, fee for transferring money to another account in same bank, any hidden charges etc. You should be able to find a fee-less account.
• What would happen if I go out of Austin or UT Austin (this time would come, one day, and the answer to this question can be painful if you have not planned cleverly in early days of your Austin life). Solution: get an account that will go with you for the rest of your US (or afterwards) life.
• Austin is a university town, and almost everybody (or anybody) will open a new account (usually it is called student account) for you without social security number (you are giving them business).

Bank of America

Pros:

• Does not require social security number.
• Allows online transfer to other Bank of America customers (although this feature doesn't work for most people). It is known to between Austin fellows.
• Free unlimited teller services (at branches which provide such services)
• Free unlimited online transfers within your own checking/savings accounts
• ATMs located throughout Austin, several on or near UT Campus.

Cons:

• For UT students: The campus (bevo) branch is quite impotent: does not have teller services and cannot resolve most issues without referring to one of the main branches at Lamar or in downtown.

University Federal Credit Union

Pros:

• Does not require social security card.
• For UT students: Guadalupe branch is a stone's throw from the UT campus.

Cons:

• Only two teller services within a calendar month are free. Subsequent teller-visits incur a $2 charge, although such visits are generally not needed. Visits to the branch with general questions do not count as teller visits.
• ATMs on campus, but not throughout Austin in general.
• As far as I know, there are monthly (or annual) fees with UFCU's checking account (I think $3, which is the worst feature. People with UFCU account add info here please).

There are some other good options, e.g. Wells Forgo, Washington Mutual and Chase Bank. All of them are well-reputed banks, and are near to UT campus.

Credit Card

Getting a credit card is the first step towards building your credit history. Without a credit history, you're screwed, and will have to make deposits in hundreds of dollars for every contract you make with the telephone company, cable service etc. Newcomers given a "secured credit card", which requires a deposit equal to the amount of your credit limit before issuing the card, essentially working as a debit card. This builds your credit history (It just works as a plain credit card). Students are recommended to try for either secured credit card (Bank of America for sure) or student credit card (Chase Bank, I guess). Another good way to get a credit card is to get a University Federal Credit Union (UFCU) account. They give a $2000 credit limit card with no deposits (UFCU account holders: please add info here). But, there are some problems with UFCU accounts (as mentioned above).

Bank of America

recommended. Secured credit card helps build credit history, (but requires extra cash to submit as the deposit amount). Long process, a little weired online service, but the one good point: its the largest national US bank, and has ATMs and branches all over the US.

(add external link here)

University Federal Credit Union

Provides normal (not deposit-based) credit cards to students. New graduate students get a credit limit of $2000. Approval usually comes through in 24hours. Assessment of online service not known. In time payments results in an increase of credit limit to $2500 in just a few months.

(add external link here).

Things to do in Austin

• 6th Street (People have preferred UT over GA tech and Stanford just because of this street ... YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT IT)
• Zilker park (add details).
• Live music (where? urls?)
• Lake (add details)

Housing

• http://www.apartmentguide.com/College-Apartments/
• http://austin.craigslist.org/

Doctors and Health Insurance

Insert recommendations and general advice here.

For the UT students emergency medical care and basic treatment is free. You need to be enrolled in courses and also need to have UT EID to use the UHS. Here is the website of the UHS http://healthyhorns.utexas.edu/

If you are a TA or an RA then you get free medical insurance "UT Select", however it does not include eye and dental care, which needs to be added separately at extra charge (approximately $7 and $10 per month, respectively as of Jan 2007). It covers almost everything including hospitalization and surgeries etc. If you are not an RA or a TA, getting a health insurance is mandatory. Enrollment in the mandatory UT Health Insurance Plan is automatic at the time of registration, and the cost of the policy will appear on your tuition and fee bill as International Student health insurance.

Out-of-pocket (co-pay) costs

For costs and other information about the insurance, use the following link. http://www.utexas.edu/international/isss/insurance/

The cost for an eye-exam under the vision insurance coverage costs $35, as of January 2007.

UT Austin

(Longhorns! Add info here! Does anyone know how many Pakistanis are studying at UT, or any other interesting stats?)

UT computer science graduate program was ranked 7 by US News in 2005/6 but is rumored to have slipped to 9 or 10. Add other rankings here.

Finding TAships/RAships

There is a lot of funding in UT Austin especially in the CS and ECE department. If you are a NOT a PhD student than the chances are thin that you will end up getting funding in the first semester. By the end of two semesters, most of the graduate students are able to get some kind of funding. Some students who do not have enough financial resources take the risk of collecting money for the first semester somehow and come here. Then they search for funding and in 99% of the cases do find it.

Not that for a graduate student getting a 20 hour TA-ship or RA-ship means that after paying fees you end up having 1000~1500 dollars for living that are more than enough. In fact you can save 400~600 dollars per month with this much money.

After two or three semesters, with an acceptable GPA, it is very easy to get an internship and then a Co-op. Then your financial worries are over because with a co-op you can usually pay fees and have enough money for living.

Here are some useful tips.

1.) Go to the faculty page of relevant department (example for ECE http://www.ece.utexas.edu/faculty/directory/). Find the professors there that match with your fields of interests even remotely.

2.) Go to the respective websites of these professors and read thoroughly about their projects and current/active research.

3.) Take the research papers, mark them and take your resume (after polishing it a little) and go personally to the professors and talk about their research and show your willingness to help in the research.

4.) Keep bugging the professors. Most of them will get offended, but mostly several professors have many prospective students seeking a single job opening. So your desperation and dedication in getting a job is a big influence. Professors sometimes chose people who look most desperate for funding and are most motivated to get it.

5.) Aside from TA-ship and RA-ship there are other jobs as well most of which do get you "in state" (can someone explain this). These kinds of jobs include monitoring Labs, taking care of lab/classroom equipment etc. For the ECE department, these kinds of jobs are usually dispensed by "Fred Kirby". So its vital that you bug him too when trying to get financial aid.

6.) There is funding available in other departments too. The trick is to be there at the right time at the right place. To maximize your chances, make frequent tours to the other departments and hunt for jobs.

7.) Another trick is to get good grades (preferably 4.0) in the first semester and at the same time being at really good terms with the professors with whom you are taking the courses. Also you need to show really strong interests in research. If the courses that you take have a project, try to do exactly what the professors suggest. So at the end of the semester you can go and ask the professors for financial aid. This way you usually do get a grader-ship. If the professor does not have have a job he can still ask other professors to consider you. Note that recommendations are a very strong factor. The more you befriend a professor (with your good work and willingness to follow) the stronger is his recommendation and hence there is a better chance of getting a job.

Links

• International Newsletter: Tuition Benefit (Effect Spring 2007): http://www.utexas.edu/international/cs/nwltr/finaid_taxes_news.htm

Getting Internships

(mention career center links)

Salary and Tax related paperwork

(this section needs more info)

A US-Pakistani tax agreement waives taxes on the first $5000 or earnings. The appropriate from can be obtained from the Payroll Office (in the main tower building) and must be attached to the Form 8232 at the time of submitting tax documents. For non-resident aliens, many of the tax-forms need to be fined each year, so it is advisable to make a copy once you have filled out the forms in order to facilitate filling them the next year.

If it takes time for your social security card to arrive, you can ask the university to assign you a temporary social security number in the meantime. (where to go and who to ask? how does it work?)

Bevo Bucks

"Bevo bucks" refers to a method of payment by which students can add funds to their UT id card and use them to make payments at participating merchants. Some shops and cafeterias, such as the Jester Dining Hall, even offer discount of up to 20% if you pay with bevo bucks. Funds can be added online using utdirect.

• List of participating merchants: http://www.utexas.edu/student/bevobucks/index.php?site=5&scode=0&id=719&menu=156
• Join bevo bucks: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/bevobucks/menu.WBX (requires a valid UT eid).

Student Resources

• UT library (needs external link)
• Laptop check out service (from PCL and FAC libraries)
• [1] UT computer science wiki (a work in progress)
• UT legal department, helps students with legal disputes such as car insurance, landlord/tenant disputes.
• UT Health Center (add details)

Internet

Most Pakistanis subscribe to Time Warner's Cable Internet (RoadRunner) (external link needed), which offers a discounted rate of $29.95 per month for the first six months.

AT&T also has a special discounted package for UT students (http://www.att.com/U). AT&T is a DSL service.

The internet is expensive and usually people share the internet connection with roommates. The speeds are blazing and high speeds are a necessity considering the amount of work/assignments you have to do remotely.

Cable/Satellite TV

Cable networks are generally expensive. The most popular service is by the time warner cable. http://www.timewarnercable.com/austin/

They offer a lot of channels but most of the good channels like HBO and Movie Magic etc still need extra subscriptions. They offer more than 300 channels and more channels and movies on demand.

Here are the pricing details. http://www.timewarnercable.com/austin/products/pricing/austin.html

It is advised that you buy DVR too. It records your favorite tv shows without advertisements.

Telephone

Land lines are becoming obsolete slowly. With some extra money you can buy a wireless which allows you to be mobile of course. Cell phones are necessity because most of the job interviews are done on a phone, so there is no way to avoid telephone. With land lines you can get a DSL which is much cheaper than a cable internet but at the cost of a reduced speed. And since you have to move to different apartments usually when the apartment lease expires, it is much less a hassle to have a cell phone as opposed to moving a land line.

Most cell-phone providers charge by air-time (in minutes), regardless of whether you initiate or receive calls.

Major providers in Austin are: T-mobile, Cingular, Sprint, Verizon (external links needed).

(Pros and cons of each package? Or user experience and general advice?)

The cheapest cell phone still cost around 35 to 45 dollars per month. The best deals on almost all the services offer 400 to 600 minutes per month along with free weekends and weeknights. SMS service is expensive and should probably be avoided.

All the major wireless services work fine. They have similar coverages despite what different people say. Major services are by

T-Mobile Cingular Verizon Wireless Sprint Nextel

Cell phones usually come free when you buy a new subscription. You have to sign a contract for 1 to 2 years that forces you to stay with that cell phone and service. Breaking the contract early incurs outrageous fees.

Getting a cell phone and service is very painful and hard/impossible if you do not have a credit card. It is advised that a credit card is first obtained from UFCU and then should apply for the subscription. Most subscriptions force you to have a driving license or Texas ID first. Not having the proper identification incurs extra fees.

Grocery Shopping

The best and cheapest place for grocery shopping is HEB. You can find almost everything there. You can get fresh or canned foods and almost all vegetables and cheap fruits.

http://www.heb.com/welcome/index.jsp

You can go to this website and find the HEB closest to you. Then you can search the capmetro routes to find proper bus routes.

If halal meat is needed the only halal store that I know is

World food and halal market

9616 North Lamar Austin, TX 78753-4152 +1 512 832 8365 Open Hours10am-10pm daily.

You can get halal food and all kinds of Pakistani spices and vegetables and of course the Shan masalas. You can also get chopped vegetables and naan. It is better to buy packs of "naan" as opposed to making rotis yourself.

It is usually inconceivable to cook food without Shan spices. They are very convenient and not so bad in taste.

Getting a Car

(Why or why not? Where from? What is needed? Insurance and other stuff? What are the expenses associated with maintaining a car?)

Other Avenues of Help

• The Pakistani Student Association (url needed): A one-time active student society at UT Austin made up mostly of undergrads.

• Individuals: Contact information for some of the UT students and Alumni can be found at the List of Students page.