<p>cpt, we have a high EFC in a state where unfortunately even the big state schools are expensive. We know Pitt will not meet full need but since no one else is either, no strike on Pitt there. We are lucky that the costs are not THAT much more than our EFC. Like many, our EFC is somewhat “interesting” compared to what we actually have on hand to pay but it is what it is. to put it bluntly, a Pitt education is affordable. NYU and Northeastern which were on the list at one point are now off due to being unaffordable and the difference between our need and their costs. Same for Miami. Quite frankly, Pitt seemed more generous than these well funded private schools. Won’t know next year til we see the actual FA determination but that is how it looks.</p>
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<p>To follow up aglages, the key discrepancy here is probably “graduate students”. Such data is not included in the CDS, often works on a far different mechanism (eg federally awarded training or as a component of research grants), and really isn’t relative to the undergrad admissions and financial aid at all. It is hard to know what that number means when everything is lumped together.</p>
<p>Here’s the undergrad common data set break down for 2012-13 (in case you don’t want to go to the pdf…the categories are defined by the CDS).</p>
<p>Scholarships and Grants: $82,438,824</p>
<p>Need based total: $52,962,684
…Pitt: $20,993,787
…federal: $13,159,778
…state: 11,368,678
…other: 7,440,431</p>
<p>Non-need based (eg merit) total: $29,476,140
…Pitt: $21,981,144
…other: 7,411,035
…state: $83,960
…federal: $0</p>
<p>**Other<a href=“per%20category%20by%20CDS”>/b</a>:
Need-based tuition waivers: $3,004,731
Non-need based tuition waivers: $5,913,176
Need-based athletic awards: $3,657,504
Non-need based athletic awards: $4,559,117</p>
<p>Please be aware, as I noted previously, that I did not include self-help (which includes student loans from all sources and federal work study) in the total of need-based and merit aid scholarships and grants. Nor did I include self-help in the % of students receiving aid. Most self-help is likely to be federally awarded, but that doesn’t really speak to what Pitt is delivering on its own in regards to actual financial aid, which I broke down above. Thus it is neither included in the 48.3% (1589+203/3707) of all Fall 2012 freshman that received scholarship/grants (need- or non-need based, again, not including athletic scholarships) nor does that percentage include tuition waivers which are grouped separately.</p>
<p>The number of students applying for help, deemed to have need, and receiving need are further broken down by freshman and total enrolled undergrads in the CDS. I won’t bother copying those.</p>
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<p>Endowments are one reason that is possible.</p>
<p>Pitt $3 billion
BU $1 billion
UM $0.7 billion
NU $0.6 billion</p>
<p>thanks wgm. I thought Pitt was well endowed but you have helped make the point. Endowments also suggest alumni who really liked Pitt or one heck of a PR department in getting endowment commitments 
Does Pitt get any money from what I assume are generous donors in the ares such as Carnegie or Heinz?</p>
<p>Well, Carnegie is long dead…Andrew Carnegie was a trustee back in the day, but was notorious for his lack of financial support to the university. Not that he didn’t give to a lot of other projects, including his Carnegie Tech, libraries, and museums.</p>
<p>The Mellon family were alumni huge benefactors. Ironically, the name Mellon is more associated with Carnegie-Mellon these days because the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, which started as a Pitt department, was spun off as an independent entity and eventually merged with Carnegie Tech to create the present day CMU. The Heinz’s have also been benefactors, as Pitt’s Heinz Memorial Chapel can attest. Other historic benefactors include Steele (Oil), Trees (Oil), Clapp (ALCOA), and Frick (Carnegie’s partner). </p>
<p>Pitt still does receive occasional grants from the foundations created as legacies to these patriarchs of Pittsburgh, but the names of the larger donors have changed these days to contemporaries like the Hillmans, Scaifes, Teppers, Tanskys, Dietrichs, Swansons, and Petersens.</p>
<p>Don’t worry. I knew Andrew Carnegie had passed away a long time ago. I’m not that out of it 
I thought maybe he had set up trust funds and I knew he was big on philanthropy. Are the other donors companies based in Pittsburgh? The city is certainly proud and supportive of what it has to offer(and with cause to be proud) so I could see local companies being generous supporters. or are these just very rich families?</p>
<p>It’s a mix. Some companies and foundations are based in the area, some people are outside the area.</p>
<p>John Swanson for whom the engineering school was named in 2007, founded ANSYS which is based in the area. John Dietrich whom both CMU’s and Pitt’s have schools named after had his business in the area and set up a foundation to perpetually support both schools and other institutions in the area. Petersen’s started Erie Insurance that is based, obviously, in Erie, Pennsylvania. Hedge fund manager David Tepper is one of the richest men in America and based in New York and supports both Pitt and CMU.</p>
<p>Pitt has had corporate support from Gulf Oil (no longer in Pittsburgh), US Steel, Mellon Financial, and others. It gets a ton of financial support from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center these days.</p>
<p>As a side note, it’s worth mentioning that the tuition changes based on which school at Pitt you apply to. (i.e. SSOE is more expensive per semester for tuition compared to A&S). Just a quick FYI.</p>
<p>wgpm and awesome, thansk for the info</p>
<p>For anyone wondering, here are the numbers by school:</p>
<p><a href=“https://oafa.pitt.edu/costs/[/url]”>https://oafa.pitt.edu/costs/</a></p>
<p>Note that SSOE is about $1000 more expensive than A&S per year (IS) and almost $2500 times more expensive for OOS. Business and Nursing tuition is even higher.</p>
<p>Nursing for OOS c. 41K</p>
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<p>Also, regional campuses of Pitt are cheaper than the Pittsburgh campus.</p>
<p>True but the main campus is in awesome location. Don’t think that holds for regional campuses, at least the ones I can think of. But regional campuses are certainly an option and I think one has good shot of transferring from regional campus to Oakland assuming good GPA??</p>
<p>Ct1987, an advantage to going to PItt in Oakland, is that after freshman year, there are plenty of nearby off campus options, a lot of kids going off campus a lot of part time job possibilities, so some of the room and board costs can be reduced drastically. You don’t need a car to do this, and you are not an outlier as this is the way it goes. At some schools, the rents around the school are stil very high, not many jobs available and the distances are difficult to handle without a car when going off campus. Find a roommate also needing cheap digs and willing to share a bedroom, and you can find some bargains right near Pitt and halve that COA room and board figure.</p>
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<p>…and…that is why they are cheaper. Plus, they are essentially competing for a different cadre students…they are more in competition with PASSHE colleges and such. </p>
<p>Yes it is possible to transfer from them, but they really are not set up to act as funnel schools that you see in Penn State’s 19 campus system. Johnstown and Bradford are really 4-year residential colleges that function as self-contained colleges in their own right, as is Greensburg, but it is the closest to Pittsburgh and has more direct programs exchanges with Pitt main. They all, generally, prefer taking students that they believe are more likely to want to stay there all four years as opposed to students that they think want to use it as a stepping stone to main, all other things being equal…although, obviously, that is unavoidable and is even built into some academic programs like UPG’s 2 year engineering, pharmacy, rehab and social work where students finish up at main. The fourth campus, Titusville, is very tiny, like >400 total students, and it is only a two-year campus that offers only associate degrees. But even there, less than 1/3 of students end up transferring to Pitt main. </p>
<p>If a student wants to transfer in from Bradford, for example, to main, the School of A&S at Pitt main seems to require a minimum of 60 credits and a 3.0 gpa, although engineering only requires 30 credits and a 2.75, whereas the college of business requires 30 cr and a 3.0. It varies by school you are both transferring to and from. But you don’t have 60% of kids transferring around like you do in the Penn State system, it is more like half of that.</p>
<p>Well then best choice is to start at Oakland then if that’s an option. cpt, my kid is accepted already(!) and the Oakland campus is the only campus he put on app and that he is willing to go to. My notes were more in response to some other comments I saw about the other campuses.</p>
<p>Honestly if you want to have a great overall experience and you have Oakland as an option-take it. It’s easier to travel to/from compared to other campuses. It’s larger, probably more diverse, and just has more opportunities overall (better professors, research, work study). The environment can’t be beat with all the different neighborhoods, bus system, free arts events, sporting events (football, basketball, etc.).</p>
<p>don’t worry, oakland is all my kid will take 
Agreed the environment sounds great at Oakland and you would know!!!</p>