I don’t think the family is paying the loans. I think the student is paying. That really adds to the confusion.
I think at issue is what the word “affordable” means. It means different things to different people.
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I wish I had this problem - Yale or a full ride at Pitt 
It’s like Patrick Mahomes is your QB and Tom Brady is your back up.
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The OP has been clear that $60k of the loans belong to the student. That’s not affordable.
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(that made me laugh. Yes, I think most people would wish to have this problem )
I think this dilemma is truly “an embarassment of riches”… but no less real.
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I would argue that the NPCs are not always very accurate.
We let our son apply to schools that we suspected would be too expensive for us after being told by numerous people that top schools are very generous and that we should not rule them out based on the NPC numbers.
That said we had discussed our budget upfront so there was no major disappointment when we declined the offers from those schools.
Looking back, I still think that it makes sense to apply to schools that might end up too expensive provided that one also applies to safety schools. Application fees are not that expensive compared to cost of attendance. This is especially true for schools that might offer merit but were the merit formula is kept secret.
Once you have the offers in hand, then you can properly analyze them and pick a winner.
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I agree with you 100%. I would not do it. I would have my kid attend Pitt and count my blessings that he got a full ride to such a great school.
This kid comes from a middle class family. I have a hard time believing that kids from middle class families won’t do well with full rides from Pitt.
Yale is obviously great, but it’s not affordable for this student.
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Exactly and we live in PA and our state schools are pretty expensive. My older son went to Bloomsburg and was lucky to get one of their top scholarships but it was still around 15,000 a year. Again we had no idea how this whole thing with the free rides would play out. He applied to schools that are known for good merit and then some Ivy’s. If my son chooses the Ivy we will not just abandon him with this massive debt.
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This family has another child. I forgot whether the EFC of $20,000 is with 2 in school. Is this an older or younger child (I think there is another child currently in school)?
Will the parent’s EFC go up at some point?
Pitt is a great school. A full ride to Pitt takes it to another level.
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He’s graduating this year.
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Ok…what will your EFC be once your other child graduates? With 2 in school it’s $20,000 a year.
the CSS would have been filled with one in school (graduating this year = not in school 2021-2022)
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Thanks for the clarification. We are facing a similar situation between full pay and full ride, but not like Yale vs Pitt, the financial difference is much more dramatic though. It’s totally a personal decision when it comes to financials. $60,000 means a whole different thing for each family, even with equivalent financial situations. Worth it or not is not a question can be answered without the context of family situations and emotions sometimes. There could be very different opinions in the same families too. It’s a hard decision for the family, but it’s a good problem to have as he has many great options. Wish the best for the OP’s family!
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Ok thanks for clarifying!
Your son is very lucky to have those great options and the support from parents. He must have put a lot of work to it in high school. Honestly, I won’t let my son regret for his life for what he might have missed in those great schools. It’s a great deal to trade an education at Yale for $60k. No one is saying Pitt is not a good school, but it’s nowhere even close to Yale. Good luck!
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So matching the financial aid by Ivy schools is only among the Ivies and only for the undergraduate program? I just learned that a student who was accepted by an Ivy school for a graduate course requested to match an offer from a state school (full ride/stipend) and got an offer to match exactly. When OP contact Yale, maybe it won’t hurt to ask to match Pitts offer too?
If I recall correctly what Cornell told us two years ago, they would have matched MIT and Stanford prices.
But if one gets in MIT or Stanford, I don’t see why one would want to go to Cornell.
Its correct that Cornell would match MIT/Stanford, but not the other way around. The same can be said about Yale vs Penn or Pitt.
Maybe you should start a thread to get input? Are you hesitating between Michigan and Austin?
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The one thing I see missing from these “more ‘prestigious’ college for more money vs less ‘prestigious’ college for less money/free” arguments is that in real-world conditions, 17 and 18 year-olds change their minds about majors and life goals all the time. Some might even say that the possibility this could happen is actually an essential feature of going to college, not a bug.
$60,000 is a lot of money and Pitt is a great school, but Yale is worth it.
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Agree 100%!