Last year, Pitt published 25-30 spots on their Tuition Exchange information page (and 500+ applicants).
All good observations. Iāve been following the tuition exchange threads for the last 5 years. The āprocessing feeā is a new thing that appeared in the last couple of years. Syracuse no longer offering TE to all admitted students started about 2-3 years ago and this year TE at Syracuse is preferentially offered to ED applicants. Personal experience to share for point#3: at the start of our search for S23, Case Western was in the affordable range (w/ set rate award, COA came to low 30K/year) but then tuition was increased by 10K+ in a short span of two years. By the time S23 applied and received TE at CWRU, COA w TE was 44K/year (no longer affordable).
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Very true. My daughter was accepted at several TE schools for Fall 23 and we made the decision using 2022 tuition rates. Needless to say, they look a lot different now but we are committed to making it work. My son graduates in 2025 and as we begin the search for him, weāre only looking at schools that we could still afford if the rates go up by $10K over his four years. A bump up by $5k/year may not look like a lot for some universities when the sticker price is $85K, but it hits home for those of us walking the tightrope of a TE benefit at $42K with no additional aid.
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Yes, Iām pretty sure my husbandās employer gives the $20,000ish regardless of whether the kid goes to the home institution (a highly selective school) or any other school. No added benefit to attending the home institution, although I think being a child of staff would be an admissions hook. Weāll never know because my older one went D3 and my younger one refuses to even consider the home institution.
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I think the hardest thing about TE is the unpredictability. It is hard to say if your student will get it and how much you will save. So itās hard to predict if it is worth to stay in the job for it. I only have experience with one kid so far (two more in the next couple of years). S23 turned out spectacularly well, he is tuition-free at Pitt and we are so grateful for it. So that is a good example how this can work well, but this outcome is far from certain. We only have to repeat this two more times. 
It is stressful for sure.
One way I prepared my kids for this situation is that we sat down and talked about the possibility of going to the home institution (the cheapest option as it is free) and working hard at school to maximize their chances for getting a TE (or any other) scholarship. I also made sure that their list has one academic and financial safety: in our case either the home institution or the local state school they can commute to. Also, start saving for room and board as it is almost certain that you will have to pay for that.
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@31fan thatās a great benefit! My home institution has full tuition remission if my kids want to attend there ā- the problem is definitely that the kids arenāt thrilled at the idea of going to the university where mom works!
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Sounds like we are in the same boat. 
I have D25 coming up, so see you on the 2029 (Fall 2025) thread next year!
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Youāre exactly right - the unpredictability isnāt great for those who are planners. Will my kids decide to go to our home institution? Will they want to go to a public university? Will they get or not get TE? Will they earn other scholarships? How do I handle the one year of overlap - do we need to plan to be full-pay for our oldestās senior year of college so our youngest can hopefully get TE starting their freshman year? Am I putting too much or not enough into their college savings? Iām going to have to make my kids a complicated spreadsheet or something. It would kind of be easier to plan if it wasnāt even on the table.
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Yep, those are the questions. I thought the same - not having tuition exchange might have made things easier in the sense that we can at least plan. Iām a planner. 
When S23 got the TE, my husband said to S23: āThis gave years back to your motherās lifeā. 
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Does this count as family contribution? Or as a scholarship the college might use to reduce the aid they have offered?
For us, I believe the lower salary has been worth it. One daughter went to the home institution and had full tuition remission, another goes part time at the home institution and my H even finished his degree at the home institute. The only unknown has been the TE. Luckily my D24 has three schools (still deciding) that will give full tuition exchange. It is definitely a relief.
We also had the talk beforehand to discuss having to go to the home institution in case she didnāt receive TE. She said she would rather go to community college (it is free in our state) and then try again somewhere she really wanted to go. That is how much she doesnāt want to go to school where Dad works 
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Have folks committed before a decision on TE (or, in my case, CIC) notification? The deposit is fully refundable until May 1, itās a first choice school and the gap between not getting the waiver and using the offered package is about 10k, so not insignificant, but not insurmountable, and would that gap close with a āleft item in cartā discount that some schools seem to give to slow deciders?
This is the calculus running through my brain all the time right now - hoping we can meet with FA at admitted students day next week, too.
There is a discount for items left in cart? Wow, learn something new every day 
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We have not committed anywhere yet.
Oh yes, sometimes when shopping Iāll add things to a cart and get a message a few days later with 10% or whatever! But on the FA side, I see folks getting an additional award to lurethem to commit already. (I donāt love this practice, it feels a lot like the ābe our 1000th follower and win a prize!ā - whereās the prize for the folks that have been following you and supporting you all along? 
)
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Iām assuming our benefit (at an HYPSM) is the same as CMās. Iām guessing it factors into financial aid, as a merit scholarship would (i.e., the merit scholarship would be deducted from your demonstrated need, not counted toward your EFC).
The conditions of our schoolās program is that the assistance is limited to tuition and mandatory fees, and if you have another scholarship, you have to disclose. So, for instance, if you have a merit scholarship that brings tuition and fees down to $10,000 a year, the tuition assistance would only pay for that $10,000 (and could not go towards room/board/optional fees).
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That reminds me. We just got a late scholarship to a school we have full tuition exchange at. Of course the scholarship says it canāt be used for room and board. So why the heck did they send it?
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So true, all of this. I am 90% sure our S24 is going to end up choosing our home institution, where full tuition is covered. We have enough saved to cover room and board. But heās also received TE at 3 schools, and declined one (St. Joeās) already. Of the remaining two, one is full tuition, other is set rate. The one with full tuition (Pitt) means he could attend for same cost as home institution; the one with set rate (Richmond) is still financially out of reach. Still waiting on GWU and waitlisted at Syracuse. Syracuse TE would stack with merit received and become the cheapest option. GWU would not stack and would probably not be affordable even with TE. And then we have a second child graduating HS in 2027 and we get to do this all over again, with one year of overlapā¦itās a LOT to consider, and the TE process is much more complicated that we realized. Not the actual application process, but the differences between schools in terms of how the awards are made, the amounts, how they affect actual COAā¦
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Richmond also stacks! GWU does not. Pitt is a great deal with full tuition covered. Fees are $800 a year. (D22 there on TE now).
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Being awarded a TE award is very challenging. First, you have to be eligible for the benefit from your home institution, second the child has to be admitted to the school and then be selected for TE. The worst part is that each institution has different criteria for offering awards and most are not forthcoming with information. Good luck with your journey.
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