maggiedog

My son was offered full tuition and invited to interview for the Chancellor's scholarship. He was ranked 2 in his class, and had an ACT 34 and SAT of 2340. He is in-state, not a URM, and never toured or showed much interest. He was VERY fortunate and grateful to get this offer. However, he turned it down to go to another school where we would have to pay some of the costs, but got need-based fin. aid for the rest of the cost.

My understanding is that Pitt is a great school, very generous with their scholarships, and are trying to recruit more high-level students for their honors college. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of kids turn down the merit scholarship opportunity because they assume the overall atmosphere is not academic enough, which may not necessarily be accurate.

sylvan8798

I don't consider it "generous" if only a few people at the very top get offers. We would be very happy with $10K to $15K. We don't need full tuition there. However D doesn't even have the stats for the minimum $2K award.

mom2collegekids

I agree. UPitt really can't be considered to be "generous with scholarships" because that suggests that many kids with very good stats would get merit. The fact that some kids with super-stats get large merit doesn't qualify UPitt to be considered "generous" with merit.

In other threads, when people write that X school is generous because they gave THEIR child a lot of merit, I wish they would include their child's: M+CR SAT/ACT, GPA, rank, home state and URM status...and the year their child applied........so as not to mislead the reader whose non-URM child has - say a very good ACT 30 and a 3.7 GPA, but wouldn't get much/anything from that school....especially if that school has long changed its merit awards.


Sylvan...what are your D's stats?

MD Mom

I think the reason Pitt gets named often ( other than I post a lot) is because there are not that many top 50 schools that offer true merit money. Pitt hovers around 50 in most rankings.

For my daughter, the higher -ranking schools where she was admitted( Chicago, Georgetown, and Michigan), offered no money. She was offered $8k a year at our flagship, which was full tuition for that year.

So even though the numbers required for merit money are high, it is nice for those who qualify. FWIW, a friend of my daughter's, with very similar stats to hers, applied later and did not get the money DD did. So, apply early. It is an easy application.

I will admit, m2ck, that this thread is the first where I published DD's stats if I am remembering correctly. She is a senior, so I figure that it is old news. No URM status.

Good luck to your daughter sylvan.

sylvan8798

Her GPA is about 3.75/4 (unweighted), 9 honors/advanced courses, will have 2-3 AP's next year, SAT 1300 (1970) so far. She will take ACT and SAT again in Sept/Oct. The school doesn't tell them their ranks until start of senior year, but as nearly as I can figure at least in the top 15%.

Thank you MD Mom

ace550

For those who got full tuition award, I would guess that you could get equivalent grant from a top 15 school if your parent's income is not high. However, it appears that UPitt is more generous than CMU, right?

MD Mom

A good number of upper middle class folks who live on the East Coast or other higher cost of living areas do not qualify for the monies you are talkng about, ace550. However, they don't make enough to just write the check either.

In general, Pitt seems to give more merit money than CMU, which also draws a different type of student, IMO.

mom2collegekids

For those who got full tuition award, I would guess that you could get equivalent grant from a top 15 school if your parent's income is not high. However, it appears that UPitt is more generous than CMU, right?


Well, sure....if the income isn't high, then the student could get the same or MORE from a top school that "meets need." The problem is that many kids with high stats do not have a lot of need or may have NO NEED.

It seems to me that a lot of people who live in especially pricey and/or high tax areas really don't have much left over each month....at least not enough to put $40k+ per year towards college for a few kids.

I was shocked to hear how much my Long Island friend pays in property taxes for her modest-sized home. Ridiculous! No wonder they opted for schools that would give their child lots of merit. According to FAFSA, they have no need, but in truth, they had a lot of need. lol


as for UPitt vs CMU....I don't think CMU really wants to give much in merit, and may not have the funds to do so. They may want to focus on need based aid.

ace550

M2K,

Indeed, that is why you successful youngsters in those areas should plan for multiple kids with little age gap.

CaliMomof5

I pulled out the letter that my daughter got when she was offered the full tuition scholarship at Pitt. It indicated that of 24,000 applicants, 4% were offered the full tuition scholarship. That's about 960 students. So, if your child has stats that would put them in the top 4% or so, I would definitely have them give it a shot. And that's just for the full tuition. I don't know what the numbers/percentages are for students getting less than full tuition. My daughter did not apply early, but she did submit an essay with her application that she invested a great deal of time, effort, and thought on, as well as a resume and some letters of recommendation. She also had a lot of ECs. If your child is close on the stats, but has great extra-curriculars and can write a well-crafted essay, I would still have them give it a shot, and just to be sure, apply early.

As for offers from higher ranked schools- yes, she had several, but they were need-based only, and even with aid, we would have been looking at 100-160K for 4 years. My daughter really liked Pitt, especially the honors college, and stated outright that she would prefer me to pay for her grad school so that she can graduate debt free. Thank goodness she's got a good head on her shoulders! Many, many people were pressuring her (and us!) to go for prestige. They aren't the ones paying for it, though.

mom2collegekids

Indeed, that is why you successful youngsters in those areas should plan for multiple kids with little age gap


Yah...we should just all be spitting babies out like Pez dispensers just for financial aid. lol