i got an email about merit on Saturday and then my full financial package (which also showed merit) today via email
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I guess that means I didn’t get any merit. Welp.
same here…
Admissions said merit can be awarded through until March 1.
Just got off the phone with admissions AND Financial Aid. My son meets the criteria that is posted for Merit Scholarships, but because of the “highly competitive” year they had with applications they follow that as a general guideline. Also she said all the Merit has been “Awarded” but not everyone has been “notified.” So its out there in the universe somewhere… still have hope it lands in his email. LOL As stated earlier by March 1 everyone should know.
Last week the portal was updated for my daughter and it had just the unsubsidized loans with no merit. After reading these posts about aid being awarded throughout February I held out a little hope but this morning she received an email with the financial aid award and no merit.
It makes zero sense to send out an email if there is any chance of merit being awarded later.
The award letter said total indirect+direct costs for 2021 are estimated at $31,526. That actually is a bit cheaper than I expected (maybe tuition went down?).
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You are your son received a scholarship? We received the award email this morning and my daughter did not receive any scholarship and it states her net price (in-state) is $31,526.
Yes he did. His out of pocket price is way lower. I was just listing the price before scholarship and loan.
I completely agree about sending financial aid out when merit is still possible! I need the bottom line before we can make any decisions. I wonder how merit will be received? Update on portal? Email? Mail? I wish everything just came out at once! 
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Tbowman I hate to say it but I think anyone that says that there is still a chance of receiving merit after the financial aid award has been emailed out is just hoping against hope. Maybe I’m wrong - I hope I am, but I don’t see why Pitt’s Fin Aid staff would send out the email if it wasn’t final.
i agree, it seems very unlikely that you will receive merit aid if you have received your package, why would they recalculate again…
Holy Moly! My GPA is very similar to yours so I thought there was no hope of me getting in. Thanks for giving me hope!
Does anyone know when Pitt finishes sending out decisions? They received all my materials Oct 2nd for rolling, still no decision they asked for FIRST QUARTER grades specifically and confirmed they did not need semester grades so that’s not the issue. So frustrated waiting this long
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@hailtopitt1787 - is it to be assumed that once the email with financial aid is sent out, there is no further chance of merit aid?
Same here! Good luck!!
I saw someone post on reddit yesterday that they had a panther pride award in their portal and then just received $20k/yr merit award and are pissed that the panther pride award is no longer there. So it appears they will rejigger aid packages.
If you get merit, FA is reduced, because that merit increases the EFC, the same way a raise would decrease FA.
FYI, I received an email from Pitt stating that one of the criteria reviewed for merit is that the student have a cumulative GPA of 4.0 (I am presuming this is unweighted). I hadn’t yet heard such a clear statement on the criteria to this point. Based on this, if student’s 9th-11th grade GPA is below 4, presume they are not eligible for a merit grant.
My D has met all criteria except taken the SAT because it was canceled 5 times. She is in all honors, AP classes, President of her French Honor Society, member of the National Society of High School Scholars, 4.6 weighted GPA, 4.0, volunteered at the hospital, etc. They gave her nothing and only got $5.5K in unsubsidized loans. She is crushed. Her response was “I was told to work hard, take hard classes. It will pay off.” Well it didn’t.
Yeah, I think they mean only that it’s the minimum criteria for review, not that it’s a guarantee. ):