http://www.lycoming.edu/financialAid/scholarshipOpportunities.aspx
@laralei, would your D be interested in PFEW? It is a week long summer program in PA and participants qualify for an extra $5,000 a year scholarship at Lycoming college. I believe it can be stacked with their other scholarships.
Also take into account that if you qualify for a state grant of up to $4,000 by staying instate, you would lose that by going OOS.
@MYOS1634 …Thank you!!!
Comparison of Cleveland state, Lycoming, West Chester, Wright State
^nice! thanks.
@Portercat CC wouldn’t save us very much. I posted before, maybe not here, but CC is not anywhere near us, and it would be about $9K in tuition alone, add a car, no reliable bus service, and the savings dwindle. Also, my youngest has no interest in driving at all. I don’t want to push that, too much crazy on the roads. Might change by senior year, so we’ll see. Everything is on the table.
“Prestige” LOL. Only concern is finding something we can afford that would offer her something she would be interested in taking, and so far, that is still up in the air. Not pushing that, just want her to concentrate on the SAT’s for now.
I have done some calculations on the car and commuting to CC, and I agree it makes it more difficult. Our CC is at least 40 minutes drive away (other end of the county). Many families in our school district have an additional car for their kid at age 16. Not us.
I am so glad I’ve started this process early. I agree with @laralei - prestige is irrelevant at this point. It’s funny - I started out a year ago looking at the Vassars and Bowdoins of the world and turning up my nose at “lesser” schools like Muhlenberg and Penn State and Rutgers and – heck, pretty much anything I’d never heard of, which was most of the non-Ivys – and now, I’ve come to realize that pretty much all the “lesser” schools are still beyond our reach, for my average-stats kid. She may surprise me and blow the SAT/ACT out of the water, but she hasn’t on the prelim runs of PSATs, so I’d be very surprised. And she does go to a rigorous private prep school, but the school doesn’t rank, and she’s middle-of-the-pack in terms of academically standing out - she rarely makes the dean’s list, for starters. So I don’t see “lesser” private LACs, and certainly not high-cost publics, lining up to throw money at her. And since we’re squarely in the bubble of not-too-poor, not-too-rich, PASSHE is pretty much it. The closest community college is 45 minutes away, and while it’d be doable if we absolutely have to, we’d have to buy another car, and I hate the idea of a new driver on mountain roads in bad weather. I’d scrimp some more to have her safely ensconced in a real college, with all of the benefits and opportunities that entails, versus schlepping to commuter courses.
Also, driving in PA can be a nightmare, not just stressful for the driver but for the parent too, with days it’s not advisable to drive at all if possible in some areas. Sleet, snow, ice, treacherous passes, poorly maintained country roads… all conspire to make driving in winter for 45 mn a bad idea, and thus CC a bad overall idea. Not to mention CC’s aren’t that cheap. 
I’d recommend dorming at Mansfield before driving in some areas (Mansfield is almost as easy to get into as CC.)
Yes, the community colleges are always suggested as an affordable go to on this site, but seems for us here, even that isn’t necessarily easier or all that much cheaper.
We are also around 45 to 50 min from nearest CC.
I see some positives in this conversation. Some CCs are starting to introduce many more online courses, which may be useful in filling in the gaps in PASSHE scheduling, especially for core courses (over the summers, during breaks, etc). I have heard that one issue with PASSHE schools and why grad rates can suffer is due to getting into the right courses and taking the appropriate course load to graduate in a reasonable period of time.
On a side note - we do see all of these senior kids with cars, and you can see that it does cut down on the hustle and bustle driving, especially if you have younger kids too. It is very tempting to try and buy another (old) car so she can get herself to stuff. My wife told me this week she is just WAY burned out on driving kids to activities after work after all these years (me too). She didn’t even care that much that my senior D was dropping out of the spring musical, because it means less driving for us.
SUNY’s can cost about the same and offer a better experience - better academics for the cost, at least. Some have merit. WVU or PSU Branches are a good choice, too - depending on the chosen major (girl in stem will typically garnder some sort of scholarship, for instance). For a middle of the pack student, strong test scores will make all the difference. Since she attends a prep school it can be worth it to try and have her take some subject tests and use those at some schools to show her background’s stronger than at an average public school, which she could leverage at some women’s colleges such as Agnes Scott, Simmons, Chatham or even Mount Holyoke depending on what you mean by “middle of the pack”.
SUNY Puchase, which has a well-regarded theater program (D seems to be leaning in that direction, though it’s early days), costs $31k, and the only aid we’d get would be federal loans, its NPC tells me. That is unaffordable for us. But yes, you’re right, a stellar SAT/ACT could help a great deal. She’s aware of the signficance.
Don’t forget some of the Ohio state schools (Bowling Green, Ohio U, Kent, Akron, Wright, Cleveland and Youngstown) can come in at about the same range as the PASSHE schools(particularly as some of the schools charge per credit above 12).
West Chester instate or Ohio University sound like good bets. Is OU good for aid to OOS kids though?
Ohio U has merit for good test scores, potentially decreasing costs to what instate PA costs would be, not sure if it’d be PASSHE level though.
Ohio U offers a variety of merit, including to kids with somewhat modest stats. My Phila suburban S was offered $7,000/yr merit with ACT of 27 and GPA right around 3.0. Ohio U has a guarantee that tuition, fees, R&B won’t increase during 4-yr stay. Per current prices, cost would be about $34,000 before merit, $27,000 after-- whereas I think WC would be more like $20,000, with increases in future years. Better stats would of course earn more merit $ to help close that gap. Still considerably less than Pitt, PSU or Temple (which my kid likely would not have gotten accepted to anyway).
CALU of PA is rated 5th in the country for online education. I thought that it was news worthy.
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/bachelors/rankings?int=999208
@betser1 Interesting, ahead of Penn State World Campus also. I wonder if they do a 50/50 online/on-campus hybrid. May be a great option for my younger D.
@ portercat…yes, this leads to potential new options to obtain a degree and manage costs as well as time.
I like to reinforce the value of an education…this article provides some recent insight…enjoy
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20170112_ap_8ed3d9b045644d6ba48a6f9dfe0d142f.html