Hi! I’ve been looking to apply to UPitt because of the environment (weather/location/area) and the solid educational programs they offer for engineering + medicine (I plan to be an electrical engineer for medical device companies). I’ve been considering UPitt for a long while now, however I’ve recently come across several posts on Reddit and here that the financial/merit aid is not great. Even The Princeton Review listed UPitt as #1 on the “Financial Aid Not So Great” list.
Speaking on the behalf of OOS students, I’m unsure how the merit aid will be. My sister is already in college as a sophomore, and I don’t want the cost to be overwhelming for my parents. If the aid doesn’t come out to be so great, I will opt out of applying to UPitt.
Any help or advice is welcome! Thank you very much in advance.
Additional info: Asian from Alaska, first-gen, 1500 SAT, middle-class family, sister will be attending college as a junior/senior during my first two years
First of all, it’s just “Pitt.” 
I started out saying U Pitt also but everyone there just says “Pitt.”
Secondly, it’s hard to know how your merit award will go. Apply super early. Like…now. You do have some geographical diversity for the Pitt campus and that could work in your favor. Just based on watching the last few years of merit awards here, I would estimate your 1500 would get between $5K-15K per year in merit. Your costs per year could range from $30,000 per year to $40,000 per year. I wouldn’t count on full tuition at all. There is a super rare chance of getting a Chancellor’s scholarship maybe?
Pitt does have the “Panther Pride” award which is need based aid. I’ve never seen the exact income threshold for this though it’s hard to predict.
Pitt sticks it to OOS engineering students every single year with tuition raises. This is the second year in a row we’ve had a 7% INCREASE in tuition. Make sure to include that in your spreadsheets when you are comparing affordability. Make SURE you add in flights from Alaska to Pittsburgh for breaks. Those are bound to be $$$$.
With that said, my student loves Pitt and the solid engineering opportunities. It sounds like you have done a great job of locating a school that has good opportunities in engineering + medical research. Best of luck and wishes and keep everyone updated.
@carachel2: Thank you for the insight! I definitely will take the chance on applying since it is hard to predict how much the financial aid will be. I know that I can lower the cost of tuition to an extent via AP credit (I have several 5s in STEM classes), though only up to a point.
Also, not sure if you would know, but I’ll ask anyway: if someone earned a competitive merit scholarship from a school that is comparable in rank/prestige as Pitt, what are the prospects of successfully negotiating for a better deal? I understand that Pitt is a public university, so the money they would give out to OOS students would be very tight.
@Crossover10 it’s interesting though, even with a bazillion AP credits you are still likely going to be at Pitt for four years for engineering. I suspect that is true for a lot of engineering programs. There are sequence engineering courses that you can only take at Pitt if that makes sense. So you you could come in with AP credit out the wazoo and you’re still going to have to take Freshman engineering analysis 1 and then II (I may have the name wrong) and your seminar classes are the same. It’s not like you are going to come in and automatically be a sophomore engineering student and only have to attend 3 years.
Pitt has removed the “Cost Analysis” procedure they used to have in place and there is no negotiating scholarships anymore. Can your family afford to pay $30-40,000 per year for you to attend Pitt?
Pitt is expensive unless you get one of their few huge merit scholarships. You have a chance, so apply EARLY (now) and make it clear it is your first choice (if it is). Good luck!
@carachel2: I was actually planning to use the AP credits for pre-req classes (5s in Calc AB, Chemistry) and electives (4/5s in US History, Psychology, Econ) not pertaining to my major; I would be more than happy to go through the four years through engineering.
My EFC is ~ $30k. I’ve heard that when two+ siblings are in college at the same time, the overall COA is cut down to split between the two students until there is only one student left, to which the COA returns to full price. My family can afford to pay the $30k-40k, though I would like to save as much money as possible. Overall, it depends on how much I see the ROI of Pitt being.
Can I ask how much your student likes Pitt engineering (classes, internships/co-ops, job/alumni connections, etc) so I could have a better grasp of the ROI?
You are misunderstanding how it works I think?!
Your EFC is $30K. For the example, we will say that Pitt COA (with OOS tuition and room and board) will cost $45K/year for you.
Pitt will still charge you $45K/year regardless of your EFC. They are not going to reduce the COA for you just because your EFC is lower than the COA. Pitt is not a school that guarantees to “meet financial need.” Does that make sense? Pitt is under no obligation to make it so their school costs you the same as your EFC. They are not going to change the cost for you.
Let’s pretend for a moment that Pitt is one of those schools who guarantee to meet financial need. The COA is $45K and your EFC is $30K. Pitt would give you $15K in grants and your final cost would be…your EFC of $30K.
But alas, Pitt does not meet need. Based on previous year’s merit awards, you could end up with a merit scholarship of $5-15K per year. So you can for sure count on Pitt being at least $30-40K per year.
A number of IB diploma students in Colorado get very high merit at Pitt. I always thought it was a high merit college based on a few examples of super strong students getting good out of state merit. Financial aid is terrible at Pennsylvania publics, and very top in state PA candidates get better deals at U of Maryland. So don’t expect financial aid.
@Coloradomama my full IB Diploma kid with an ACT 34 and #10/700 got $17,000 per year in merit from Pitt. We are thankful but I wouldn’t call that super high. Total cost is right around $30K/year for us.
@Coloradomama: Thank you for the input, that bit definitely puts into perspective the financial aid packages for my situation.
@carachel2: It seems I did misunderstand the interplay of EFC and financial aid, thank you for the clarification! I’ll use this information going forth in applying. Just a few questions so I can have a general, somewhat accurate picture of Pitt.
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Aside from grants/merit, did/does the financial aid include loans for you?
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How much your student likes Pitt engineering (classes, internships/co-ops, job/alumni connections, etc) so I could have a better grasp of the ROI?