UFFaculty

I think money is highly signficant because of what it signals. If a school offers you money it's a signal that they think highly of you. If, by sad chance, you happen to have a bad first year, a school that offers you money is much more likely to keep you around for another year. However a school that decided to not offer you money implictly signaled that you were not among their top choices that year. So if you have a bad year, that school is likely to take the grades as confirmation that they were correct: You are a weak student and hence should be dismissed. Even if they don't dismiss you from the program, it likely will be much harder to get a decent professor to offer to serve as your disseration chair. In the past I've recommended that a student go to a school ranked 15 that offered him a signficant stipend over going to a school ranked about 10 that did not offer him money. I felt at ease making that suggestion...but if the choice had been the 15th ranked school versus the 2nd ranked school without money,....well, that choice would be much more difficult.

corolla09 has very good advice. For what it's worth, I taught at Pitt, although a long time ago. At the time the faculty were very friendy toward the grad students. I still have a good friend at Pitt and I believe that their attitude toward grad students has not changed. Incidentally, Pittsburgh is a LOVELY place to live. Unfortunately I do not know enough about Albany to compare the two. But if Pitt semi-promises you money for the second year onward, I think Pitt should be seriously considered. If they do not promise you money...well, then even without knowing anything about Albany, I'd tend toward Albany. I believe it's always best to go somewhere where they offer you money because money is a sign that they "love" you...