https://oafa.pitt.edu/financialaid/academic-scholarships/cost-analysis/
You can find most info by searching “Pitt …”
You will need complete financial aid awards from up to two other colleges to compare Pitt’s net cost to. It doesn’t go by the merit you were awarded elsewhere.
It is direct costs like tuition, fees, room, board minus all scholarships and grants.
It does not look very promising at all
“Please be aware, in past years the vast majority of decisions from the Committee resulted in no change being made to the student’s scholarship package”
However, @1917souci , there is something to be said for Pitt that they have this specific system in place, they have a process, and it’s crystal clear. That’s pretty impressive. I agree, chances are slim, but really there is nothing to lose if you have other offers in hand. We hope to submit a cost analysis in the coming months.
^ Yes, I liked this as well. Pretty transparent, simple and noone makes you feel badly about submitting this. Case Western and CMU definately gave me attitude when I asked the same question. Pitt was like “no problem, here is the form.” And fwiw, it did increase my dd’s merit award (mind you she entered Pitt fall 2013).
At least two parents from the Class of 2017 submitted a cost analysis to Pitt and got more $$. But both had stats that were well within their scholarship norms (ACT 33+) and both had offers from peer schools where the bottom line cost of attendance was lower.
To contrast the above, my DS had 33 ACT, 3.7 UW GPA, from a top hs that does not rank or weight, and does not have grade inflation. He was denied honors and merit funds at UPItt and got nothing more on appeal. On the other hand, CMU offered a merit scholarship and enough financial aid to render CMU much cheaper than UPitt in-state. CMU made the process easy and gave additional funds upon reconsideration.
@psycholing --Carnegie Melon has declared their devotion to helping meet stated need (although it doesn’t look like they guarantee to meet need?) and is a private school so that is not surprising at all. It’s a great strategy if you have your EFC.
Kudos to your kid for a great admission!
Isn’t it crazy? So great CMU worked out like that. Makes no sense on Pitt’s part, @psycholing .
We are actually grateful to UPitt, as they made my son’s decision much easier. He is super happy with his program, and he has the ability to hop over to UPItt for courses if the equivalent is not offered at CMU.
That’s a bonus!
As a much smaller, private university with a large endowment, CMU can afford to be much more generous with aid. They received a $250M patent settlement a couple years ago and the alumni polled voted by a large majority to use the funds to increase aid to students. It’s great to see that the school seems to be following through with the alumni opinions.
Pitt seems to be on the higher end for tuition for in-state, although it’s OOS tuition seems in line with what I’ve seen from most other State flagships (GT and SC are about the same, FL is a lot cheaper, UC’s and UM are a lot higher). It’s not surprising at all that CMU would be a better deal for students with the right set of circumstances.
@1917souci Thanks for your post. My D was accepted last Dec into the honors college as well having a guaranteed spot in their graduate program. The problem however is that there has been no communication regarding merit money and to be honest the NPC will be the deciding factor for us since we are OOS. I told my kid that she must have skin in the game by paying a third of her schooling so she knows the math. I had similar thoughts and concerns in your post. Pitt has aggressively recruited in our school district as well as other OOS flagship schools. My fear is that they get kids hyped up but leave nothing when it comes to merit aid. As for your comments of other options, I completely agree. In addition to the more generous private schools, I told my kid to also look at McGill and the University of Toronto since the dollar is very strong against the CAD. These schools also provide merit money even for US citizens.
@rjolly it truly would be nice if schools would let applicants know up front “you are not being considered for merit money so any future financial considerations will be need based only.” I don’t know if any schools do this, but I do agree that it would be a good thing. That way everyone can mentally move on or stay in the game. I say this with the heart of a parent who remembers what it is like to be waiting so I’m not saying that in a harsh tone at all.
Some schools are super clear cut with their merit thresholds (i.e. Alabama) and then some are super vague (Northeastern). Pitt falls in the middle—they publish their threshold and for the most part stick to those but when you hear of some occasional outliers it’s hard and I know these kids and parents hold out hope. I do think it’s safe to say that if you are outside their published threshold, you will likely get a minimum amount at best. So if you are OOS, will $5K a year be enough to make a difference? If yes, then mentally hang in there because there were a few outliers last year who got a little merit at the end.
Our experience with the private schools was that their offers were indeed more generous, but the sticker price was much higher to begin with and in the end the ‘generous’ merit offers weren’t enough to make the COA affordable. But I know others have had different experiences of course depending on the private.
@carachel2 to be honest, Pitt did say at the beginning that she would be put into a pool of candidates for the Chancellor’s scholarship. The problem is that her SATs are slightly lower than the mean for this award therefore we are not counting on it. What is troubling, reading other posts on the Pitt board, is that it seems that students seem to have already been awarded money and it is not clear as to why and how. As per your question regarding what is enough to make a difference, this will depend on how other schools respond and what they award. My D has already been accepted by our flagship state school. It’s not her top choice but her oboe instructor knows the university music director and it appears that they will not have second chair for next year. She is not interested in studying music but it’s an opportunity for her to earn some extra money. I don’t think that she would have this opportunity at Pitt since there would be tremendous competition from CMU music students. We’ll see what happens.
@rjolly — so she got a Chancellors nomination but no merit? So weird! Or did sometime tell her that at a meeting?
@carachel2 when she received her acceptance letter it just said that there would be potential merit money and that she had been added to a pool of other candidates. It also said that financial aid information would be sent later on but with no specific date. I am guessing February but who knows.
@rjolly Here is the latest email we got from Pitt ." We are so confident that you will love Pitt that we will provide hotel accommodations and reimburse your travel expenses for up to $250" I have no doubt that she would. She visited already and she loved it. However, after being “hyped” up on the first go around and not being able to secure any merit, it is hard to justify another visit when better financial and maybe even academic options are available to her.
It seems that your daughter has a nice SAT score.and a very nice opportunity as well. I would not be surprised if in the next month of so, you get awarded some kind of Merit at Pitt… But agree with you. There is not a lot of transparency in how they go about their decisions.
There is a huge discussion about Pitt merit and cost analysis appeals on the FB page called "Pitt Parents Class of 2019+ if anyone is interested. Some might find it helpful.
Just got merit letter today after applying 10/1 and receiving acceptance letter 10/16. I thought my time had passed but I guess they are still reviewing earlier applications. Good luck to everyone still waiting!
@shbtup763 --Congrats! Stats would be helpful for those still waiting.