Pitt was an early contender on D21’s college list because Neuroscience is one of her top 3 majors of interest, but over time I had her take it off because I thought I’d read on here that Pitt just does not tend to give much aid (by way of merit) to OOS applicants (I know fin aid is limited to in state as its a public institution, etc).
However, more recently I feel like I’ve seen the opposite where Pitt is being recommended as generous with merit. The website really is somewhat vague in this regard ($2-$25K) so its hard to get a sense of what a typical “honors college” student is awarded. Now that its time for D21 to finalize her app list, I just wanted to ask more directly. Thank you!
When my D applied to colleges a few years back, Pitt was a popular choice for OH students chasing merit. The class before my D’s saw a number of NMFs get full tuition scholarships but, her year (HS class of '18) there was shift. She had three NMF/4.0 UW GPA friends who all got small awards at Pitt but full rides elsewhere. It seems like they are continuing that trend for fewer and fewer large awards. They are still to be had but much more competitive.
Pitt announced last year, maybe 2018, that they would be shifting merit $ to need-based aid $.
I would go thru this year’s Pitt thread, it looked like merit was mostly $5K-$10K and $15K was uncommon…seems like merit started at around an ACT of 33. I don’t know if their merit goes above those numbers unless the student receives a Chancellor’s or Stamps scholarship.
In their 2019/20 common data set, looks like 362 frosh received non-need based aid and were award an average of $11K (H2A n and o).
I do not believe there was a shift away from merit aid. There has been more money put into need-based aid however. Merit aid still exists, although it may be more competitive to get because incoming student credentials has steadily risen.
Traditionally, Pitt had considered in-state tuition already discounted (because it is for all intents and purposes) and at least in the past there seemed to be more aid given to OOS because of those calculations. So I would say that it is not a good idea to discount possible merit or need-based aid based only on one’s residency.
You certainly will not find a better undergrad neuroscience program in the country than Pitt. There are equivalent ones, but not really better, and certainly not more mature and robust with as many research opportunities, and the latter is probably the most important thing to look at, because the bottom line is, neuroscience is a research field. It always makes sense to see what you are actually offered, aid-wise, from any particular institution in these situations before eliminating them because there are so many factors that go into offers and those factors are seemingly tweaked from year-to-year.
Based on this years class from my area of NJ, Pitt was not as generous as some other OOS state schools, better than Penn State and UMinn, not as good as tOSU or South Carolina , but really no downside to applying to Pitt , they opened admissions very early this past year, like Aug.
I didn’t say merit aid would go to nothing, but it has decreased. Here are several resources discussing the shift from merit aid to need-based aid at U Pitt:
“Generous with merit.” What specifically do you mean?
Do they give a lot of $$ to all students? no
Do they give a decent amount of $$ to students with high stats? YES. It’s usually enough to make it equal to their in-state options or maybe even a lower.
But Pitt WILL stick to their merit threshold. So if your student has stats below their merit threshold (typically a 33 and up or 1480 SAT and up) then yes, take it off the list if you can’t afford full pay out of state tuition.
No, merit aid at Pitt has not decreased. You’ve linked to stories about programs that are targeting increases in need-based aid, but they say nothing about concurrent decreases in merit aid. And the prior CC thread was also wrong because it was likewise based on false assumptions.
According to Pitt’s Common Data Sets, total institutional provided non-need based aid and tuition waivers (e.g. merit aid) increased 3.2% from Fall 2018 to Fall 2019 and by 18% over the last five years.
In addition, over that five year period, the number of students who had no financial need that were awarded institutionally-provided merit scholarships or grants rose from 450 to 713 (a 58% increase).
There has been a new emphasis at Pitt to provide additional need-based aid. There has NOT been a corollary decrease in merit-based aid. There has been increased competition for the pool of merit aid.
No, Pitt has not decreased merit aid. What you’ve linked are articles describing new programs that emphasize increases in need-based aid. They nowhere mention any concurrent decreases in merit awards, and the linked prior CC thread was wrong because it likewise was based on the same false assumption.
According to Pitt’s common data sets, from Fall 2018 to Fall 2019, there was a 3.2% increase in the total dollar amount of institutionally-provided non-need based aid and tuition waivers (e.g. merit awards). Over the past five year period, there was an 18.2% increase in non-need based merit awards.
Over the same five year period, the number of students that had no financial need and received merit awards increased from 450 to 713 (a 58% increase).
Pitt has initiated multiple new programs to help increase need-based aid, but that has not resulted in corollary decrease in merit awards. However, competition for the pool of merit awards has increased.
We are from NY and my son will be attending Pitt’s Honor’s College class of 2024. His stats were high and he rec’d a scholarship from both Pitt and a NY Pitt Alumni Group. He chose Pitt over other very competitive schools in large part because of the merit scholarships.
My daughter received a merit scholarship and we are OOS. Her SAT was a little lower than what we’ve been reading - 1460 - but the rest of her stats are stellar: 4.7, rank 1, 17 AP’s, varsity athlete, class president, etc. Probably shouldn’t have submitted the SAT because she only took it once with all the cancellations. Scholarship is for 20k spread over 4 years. Every bit helps!
oos
received merit and didn’t even send in last, higher ACT score because acceptance had already come in.
still received $5k/year with a 4.556 and applied at the time with a 32 composite ACT.
expected zilch
We are OOS and received $20,000 ($5K a year undergrad) plus $5K a year for grad school. Last year I mostly saw $5K a year and a few $10K a year for OOS. Keep in mind the posters on this site represent <1% of applicants so if you want to apply then apply, don’t let a few posts discourage you.
My son was also offered $20k a year so there are still some OOS merit offerings at Pitt. He’s a Colorado resident but we’re military, currently stationed in Ohio. 36 ACT, 4.0 UW, he will have taken 11 APs when he graduates but our school doesn’t really weigh GPAs, varsity baseball (also runs cross country and plays basketball) and is a first violinist for our top-tier city wide orchestra and concert master for his high school orchestra. He’s applying widely to BA/MD programs (Pitt is one of the best of these) but based on our visit there I think he’d be happy to attend Pitt either way and it’s one of his top choices.
Did your son get a diversity scholarship? Mine did and it’s $20k per year, $80k in total. My son also has it on his list for undergrad even if he misses the GAP cut.
I feel like we have the same kid (except mine is only exercising to run from a zombie haha). Military kid, applying to BS/MD programs, same ACT. His uw is a little low as his dad was hit by an ied summer after 8th grade so 9th grade was a mess. Hoping the Adcoms look at his letter explaining the Bs there.
Good luck to your son! I think mil kids are so amazing and resilient- any program would be lucky to have them!
The awards are definitely lower in recent years, regardless of what an earlier poster claims. They miss that point, which the stats don’t show. Back when my DD was applying, a 36 ACT kid was very likely to get full tuition. Those days are over. Now the awards are smaller, though possibly greater in number.
Certainly possible. We have a friend who received a similar 20k award (but not full-ride) who was valedictorian with top stats as well two years ago so the trend toward smaller awards may be happening over the past several years.
