Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh families left with questions after "monumental change" to tuition bills

Many families with students attending schools in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said they are struggling to figure out the logic behind their upcoming tuition bills. 

Mother of two, Brittany Zuckerman, said she's a proud product of a Catholic education. She told KDKA-TV a Catholic education is "expensive" but "always something we thought was worth it."  But after receiving tuition bills for next year, she has plenty of questions. 

"We found it to be affordable, we found the value in it," Zuckerman said. "However, with recent changes that have happened, our tuition has gone up significantly, over 11 percent what we paid last year."

The hike comes despite the diocese's February announcement of a multimillion-dollar anonymous gift from a donor utilizing Pennsylvania's Educational Improvement Tax Credit program. The diocese called it a "major new investment," saying that money would help attract new families and keep existing ones, making Catholic education more affordable. 

At the time, the diocese said in a statement, "As a result of this and other funding sources, the Diocese of Pittsburgh is implementing an updated approach to financial assistance beginning with the 2026–2027 school year."  

"Shortly after that information came out about that landmark gift, we received notification that the diocese had changed our tuition costs from around that $5,100 average that we were paying per student up to $9,900. So, it basically doubled in price," Zuckerman said. 

It's a total overhaul of the diocese's financial model that Zuckerman said was news to her family. Mother of two, Dara Alder, told KDKA-TV the same.

"Even though the funding came in, our tuition went up to $9,900 a year. So, that's a 71 percent increase. And even with the funding they gave me, my tuition still went up 8 percent on top of what it was last year." 

KDKA Investigates asked the diocese about the increase, and a spokesperson said it's working with families and reviewing every concern brought to its attention. It added that it is committed to its pledge that families who fill out the financial aid forms would not pay more than 3 percent more. 

KDKA Investigates asked if these are calculation errors, since these families both filled out the financial aid forms and received 8 and 11 percent increases. The diocese said it's reviewing all calculations, adding it won't discuss individual situations publicly because it's confidential family information.

"That donor gave these millions of dollars thinking that it was going to help every family that attends Catholic school to get that education, and it didn't," Alder said. 

Zuckerman said there's a way to deliver bad news, and this was not it. 

"This was a shakedown," Zuckerman said. "It feels like all along from the get-go, they used generosity to shield what was going to be monumental change."

Both moms said the diocese should have spent as much, if not more, time communicating a total change to the tuition model, instead of focusing on a big donation. 

The first payment is due July 1.