We’re in state and my daughter received no merit - just the unsubsidized loan : ( At first I was a bit surprised, as she received Presidential Scholarship from another college and merit from the others but zero from Pitt. At first I was surprised by this but seeing some stats listed here, which are Ivy eligible stats (1570 SAT!?!) I’m not surprised my daughter didn’t receive merit aid.
I called And spoke to the school yesterday and they said they have completed all merit scholarships. My daughter is OOS, lots of AP, volunteer hours with plenty of accolades and no merit. She received 30k for merit at other top private universities. Little disappointed.
I’ve always been under the impression that merit is based on gpa and test scores (and Pitt gave my daughter about half of what similar schools gave her).
My D got less than most other public schools gave her too (except Va Tech only gave $3K) but I read these posts a year ago so was not surprised, Pitt focuses much more on needs based aid. Considering it would be about $40K a year at Pitt vs. $75K a year at a private I still think it’s a good deal and she will likely end up at Pitt. She honestly likes it best too!
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Pitt has said they’re focusing on need based aid to improve retention and graduation rates. I’ve seen people in this thread say they’re full pay and then complain about not getting merit aid. It doesn’t make sense to me because some people in this thread will definitely get into ivy schools where there is absolutely no merit aid and have to pay 80k so what’s the problem with 40k for Pitt?
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Pitt only gave my daughter $5000 merit and at UDel she was invited to participate in the Distinguished Scholars (so I think she’ll get a minimum of $26,000 merit). She also received $20,000 merit from Michigan State plus a $5000 study abroad scholarship (and was invited to participate in their ADS competition but didn’t). So among the public universities she’s applied to, Pitt is definitely the most expensive. She also received significant merit from private colleges but of course, their price starts out a lot higher so in the end, Pitt is still cheaper than the privates for her.
We visited Pitt last weekend and my D loved it. We couldn’t get into any buildings, but the campus is beautiful and seems small within a city.
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My daughter got an email from her admissions counselor (who she reached out to). Merit is over.
It’s a bummer. I don’t blame the school. I’m sure for the counselors, it’s hard to tell these kids - sorry. The school is a business - like yours or mine. They have budgets, etc. We all know the costs up front when we apply - but our kids take the chance and apply, hopeful.
It’s like any other product - you have to decide - do you want to buy Tropicana OJ for $4 or Kroger OJ for $2.50.
In our case, my daughter has some nice offers - Florida State with waived OOS tuition - so about $8K. Miami OH $21K off of $37K or so. U of SC Honors - unknown but at least $21K off of $34K or so…and her favorite school thus far as it’s in the city - why I thought she’d love Pitt - the College of Charleston with $12K (off of $33K). I like Pitt’s pedigree and profile - Charleston is a “lesser” school although my daughter’s #1 choice.
We’ve applied for 3rd party scholarships through Pitt Funds Me and other websites (they’re all similar) but getting those is near impossible.
So we’ll likely have to say goodbye to Pitt. I’ll say this - the way folks speak on the board about the school and Miami OH and FSU for that fact - you can tell - it’s a great operation as people clearly love it. So congrats to anyone who is able to attend.
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Sorry to hear that Pitt did not work out for your daughter. However, your daughter has many other good options including her #1 choice and I’m sure she will successful wherever she chooses to attend.
Good luck !!!
DS applied January 1 and still no decision nearly two months later. Are others in the same boat? I can see how they would get a lot of applications around that time, but it seems Pitt is quicker in announcing decisions with rolling admissions.
“It doesn’t make sense to me because some people in this thread will definitely get into ivy schools where there is absolutely no merit aid and have to pay 80k so what’s the problem with 40k for Pitt?”
There are many, many families that fall into the doughnut hole – too well off to qualify for aid but not super-wealthy. We are a full-pay family with two high-stat kids and they were told they could not apply to Ivies or no-merit schools. There is no way we could afford $600K for just their undergraduate education. We have another severely disabled child who will need care her whole life but even without that worry, it just doesn’t make financial sense. As college becomes more and more expensive, there are more and more families like mine chasing merit aid.
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I understand that but I think it’s great that schools are starting to eliminate merit money. There are students applying to college that desperately need money and they should be prioritized over high stats kids in my opinion.
My son applied right at the 12/1 deadline for honors and was notified of his admission on 1/22. Did not get an email about honors and had to look for it in the portal.
Same, my kids could only apply to matches/safeties and not more selective school where they’d get in without merit, I have 2 college graduates, 1 in college, 2 high school seniors. There are many high stat students who don’t get the excitement of applying to their dream schools. My daughter just asked me to prepare a spreadsheet with tuition and merit to figure out where she should go, price UD the #1 consideration.
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Just remember that sticker price is irrelevant at many of the selective schools. There are many that guarantee 100% of need and some that often provide additional merit aid beyond that.
Well, that certainly is the trend. Merit aid seems much harder to get than a few years ago when my son was applying to college. (We sent him to Canada, BTW, where tuition at the one of the top Canadian universities was competitive with our state flagship.)
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Yes, I know my kids are very fortunate and should count their blessings, but it is still a bitter pill. Especially since teachers and guidance counselors don’t seem to understand and tell the students constantly that if they work hard, the have a chance anywhere.
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Pitt is my son’s number one choice but we haven’t been able to visit. Were you allowed to just walk around campus, just not go into the bldgs? Did you have to make any arrangements? Only hear good things about the campus/school, were you able to get a sense of what the campus was like when you were there. Thanks and good luck to your daughter.
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We received no email but it was in the portal under admission docs
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Hi- We didn’t make any appointments, just went to campus and walked around. All of the buildings were locked. It was Sunday, so you may have more luck during the week. The campus is in a great part of town and very compact. The freshman dorms are centrally located within a quad. The library is very close to the dorms as well. My D loved it, but is still deciding between three other schools…
Good luck to your son!
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