<p>Flagship schools are NOT particularly generous with low income residents. Yes, there are some that are, but not most. If you are lucky enough to live right within commuting distance from your state flagship, that may be the case since you can then commute and PELL and Staffords come up to about $11K right there, but a school like Penn State, a great state flagship, doesn’t give out much aid and the tuition is still several grand more, not to mention commuting costs, books, It isn’t easy in a state like PA. </p>
<p>In our state, we don’t really have a flagship, but have 4 main universities, none of which are within commutable distance from NYC. That means a smaller state school, and, yes, we do subsidize them well with low tuition and generous programs like TAP, HEOP for thoe who are PELL eligible or close. I think that is the way it should be. But if you want to go awary to college, you do have to find the funds yourself for that portion of the cost as none of the schools guarantee to meet full need.</p>