Hello! I’m currently a Junior (soon to be Senior) from Ohio researching on colleges for accounting/business. One of the schools on my list is the University of Pittsburgh, but I’m considering cutting this school from my list if they do not offer good financial aid/scholarships. I understand that because it is an OOS public, it would grant me little to no aid because they save their scholarships for in-state students. From what I’ve heard, UPitt is a bit more generous with financial aid for OOS students compared to most public colleges. If I’m a bit of an average student with stats like 4.1W/3.5UW, 30 ACT (hoping to retake and get at least 32+) and probably a low EFC (I haven’t calculated my EFC or the NPC because I don’t know how accurate those would be given that my parents are divorced), how generous do you think they would be with merit aid or need-based aid? Am I wasting my time applying to this school if my family probably will not be able to pay the hefty tuition?
IMO yes, you are wasting your time. Focus on your instate school options. Have the money talk with both parents. Improve your test scores, do as much as you can this semester to help that GPA. Even the more generous auto merit at less desirable schools want higher GPA and test scores for their $$.
Agree with the above. Most Pitt merit goes to those with ACT 33+, and on the need-based side Pitt does not meet full need.
For schools that only use FAFSA (like Pitt), their NPCs should be accurate, because FAFSA does not require non-custodial parent financial info (but child support paid to the custodial parent must be included).
You are correct that most NPCs at schools that require CSS Profile and ncp financial info won’t be accurate.