Technically the policy was if you graduated from the top 10% (sounds like 8% now) of your Texas high school senior class, you had guaranteed admission into any public university in the state of Texas. It was a pretty effective way for Texas to increase minority admissions without requiring a policy that could be considered a quota.
UT ended up in a weird spot since the students under that policy pretty much filled up their freshman classes, not leaving a lot of spots for out of state or talented students outside of the top 10%.
I believe the 8% is just for UT-Austin. All the other public universities are still 10%.
I remember being worried about my admission into UT because I was the first person outside the top 10% (so, top 11%), but I did get in. I had many friends with impeccable SAT scores, tons of AP classes, but in say the top 11-15% not get in. They were pretty shocked because we were among the first years that the entire freshman class was filled from this policy. UT was always just a given. I had one friend "settle" for Brown because she couldn't go to UT.
I found out that Iowa has the same sort of policy for it's high school grads, except it is automatic admission if you graduate in the top 50%! Which is part of the reason why I kind of want to get my Texas residency back before my kids are ready for college. The standards for the flagship universities are so much higher!
Sorry for the hijack. I'm still interested to know what the ER other universities are paying. I think Yale might not be as outrageous as it sounds. Also, I think the government mandating how they spend down their endowments seems ridiculous. Yale offers pretty generous financial aid to those who need it.