An affordable commutable college is better than an unaffordable one… There are lots of universities in NYS and even community colleges with dorms and direct partnerships with state universities so that students complete their first two years and transfer seamlessly to a state university (kind of like the 2+2 in PA), or get to go to one of Cornell’s contract colleges.
It seems to me that high stats kids from many states, including Pennsylvania, have been lucky to have University of Alabama as an option.
@Gatormama …the mindset is so very troubling. If you do not invest in youth and higher education…what will the future be? It is such a bummer.
Honestly, I see much more of an opportunity at the Ohio system. Cleveland State has access to Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital and has just completed a $500 million renovation. They just began to build a new engineering school, has amazing housing, Cleveland has been named America’s hottest city…https://www.forbes.com/sites/petertaylor/2016/10/27/why-cleveland-is-americas-hottest-city-right-now/#3b8179536488…
Best 25 cities for
new Grads…http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/05/cleveland_named_to_25_best_cit.html
CSU has their highest enrollment ever and it is booming. WIll cost us almost $2,500 less than an PASSHE school.
Youngstown state is also booming because of President Tressel…enrollment is up…Money is flowing and improvements/construction is all over the place.
http://www.ysu.edu/news/ysu-enrollment-up-fall-2016
http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/jul/24/officials-credit-ysu-president-record-high-fundrai/
Now, I not trying to compare these to Harvard or some elite LAC, but when compared to the PASSHE System, lack of funding/support, increase in costs…I believe it is becoming a no brainer.
NY providing low or no cost tuition for it’s residents is going to take another chunk out of PASSHE.
True dat!
But to be clear, it’s not the State of Alabama that is making this possible; it’s the leadership of the University of Alabama System, and plenty of Alabamians are NOT on board with this approach. The money for those big scholarships are generated by the university itself (through fundraising and other income-generating programs, like their football team), not Alabama taxpayers.
And in spite of the protestations of many in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there’s a lot of truth in the James Carville observation from the mid-eighties: “On one side you have Pittsburgh. On the other side Philadelphia. In the middle, you have Alabama.”
When you’re talking about folks who never went to college themselves (intentionally or not), they’re not typically inclined to see the big picture on the importance of higher education or be willing to sacrifice their own priorities to make it happen.
Almost every single board on CC recommends Alabama for high stat, low-middle income kids, especially those that are in a pickle into trying to afford an elite LAC or big name university. Really what percentage of kids fall in this category? I would like to see better affordable options for middle of the road test takers, with good academics and a can do attitude.
^Actually Alabama is for high stats, high income families who can’t afford their EFC. Obviously since only 2% test takers meet the parameters of the scholarships, it leaves a lot of kids who don’t fit with this opportunity.
Rowan reallly impressed dd today. She said compared to other visits we’ve made–not a lot and some for her older sister–it is where she has felt the most “at home.” And this the kid who has been saying she doesn’t want to go there. 180 degree turn. She was interested in small LACs, but with classes averaging 22 students and maxing out at 35, with only professors teaching, it seems like the best of both worlds. Tons of stuff going on. Weekly buses to Philly for nights out. On campus events Thurs-Sat nights. Lots of sports options. Skateboard friendly sidewalks. 
Actually Alabama is for (relatively) high-stats, middle-income families who can’t afford their EFCs too. (This is one of those situations where studying like mad for standardized tests could be worth some big bucks. And they’re ridiculously generous when calculating GPAs, so kids may be more competitive than they realize.)
In PA, you don’t have to have a high annual income to qualify for zero need-based aid, and it’s hard to find big merit money from the public options in state.
Unfortunately, Temple eliminated their automatic scholarships this year because they were too successful attracting top students, leaving them with a huge deficit. (I believe their freshman scholarships are all competitive now, although I haven’t kept up.) They just don’t have the revenue stream that Bama has to keep funding all these scholarships.
Rumor has it there will be some significant changes to Bama’s automatic scholarships beginning this fall, as well. While I don’t believe the qualifying requirements are expected to change, the awards are probably going to be fixed amounts ($25,000 for the Presidential) rather than full tuition. That’s probably going to make the COA too high for some out-of-state families, including those in PA.
@MACmiracle, what’s the cost of attendance for Rowan for a family from PA?
Yikes, that’s going to really hurt.
Yes but on CC it mostly the kids who can’t afford their first choice, looking to take on huge amounts of debt, so they are directed to apply to Alabama.
And that is also probably true (don’t feel like they can afford their EFC or don’t want to pay for “first choice” ) for students/families that are a step down (grades, SAT’s )from students that can get good money from Alabama schools. They are advised to look at a different set of schools that will offer merit or need based aid that will put them at or below their instate schools. Therefore, you are seeing schools like Cleveland State, Youngstown State, etc. referenced in this thread.
@LucieTheLakie , Yesterday I think they gave us direct costs of about $33K for out of state. The emphasized that’s bare bones for tuition ($21K), fees, and housing.
The figure in the website is about $41K. Yikes for OOSers! Yesterday they said the COA on the website is the very maximum and includes lots of costs for travel and personal expenses. Looking at it, it seems artificially high but we are used to living frugally so others might think it reasonable. The website even includes costs for room and board for living with parents.
The housing rates vary with new dorms and old and less expensive off campus options nearby. Also, board goes from 14 meals per week to unlimited.
Merit scholarships kick in at ACT 21 or 22 from what I remember.
They mentioned a three year plan that has been developed for some majors that will save 25% of costs. Applicants have to be screened first so it must be a challenging way to do it.
There is a program for students to live on campus be bussed to a local CC everyday and take classes there for maybe two years. That will save $7K per year, though so I imagine that might be different for OOS.
@LucieTheLakie I think Rowan is pushing mid-30’s for out of state. But I hear they give generous aid if you have good stats, especially in the engineering department.
@MACmiracle my son was the same way - we started with him wanting smaller LAC but after touring a few he felt like they were too small and he’d get bored. Rowan seems a good mix of relatively large school, still walkable to everything, and all the classes are still small. I was really against lecture hall classes for him! I think he ended up making the right call!
@NJWrestlingmom , I recently met a family that visited Stockton and came back ecstatic. The father was amazed at the cleanliness of the campus. He was very cute as he described it. They had older kids in college so I guess they had a basis for comparison.
I never thought about the cleanliness of campuses. But I was a little surprised when I went to Lafayette that the bathrooms weren’t cleaner for the high price tag–even in the admissions building. I was very impressed by the bathrooms at Catholic University after visiting Lafayette.
Rowan was clean, too. D really needs a clean, organized environment to feel her best. Not so with my other kids.
@MACmiracle , @NJWrestlingmom, thanks for that info. That’s good to know. Especially for kids from suburban Philadelphia, Glassboro is not too far away, so travel costs would be negligible. I’ve heard really good things about Rowan’s engineering program too. Really great to have it as an option!
At that price, though, you could go to Penn State (which I realize isn’t always ideal if you’re directed into one of the 2+2 programs). Still, Rowan is a much better price point than UDel, which a ton of students from my area attend. Delaware is approaching $45k for OOS students. That’s a real back-breaker for many families. TCNJ is popular too, but the official OOS COA is around $40k. I don’t know if they offer big merit packages or not. All these schools have gotten very competitive for the big merit awards.
When we were going through this process three years ago, what we found was that most private schools (with the exception of the uber elite), were pretty much offering FA packages to make the COA (for the first year anyway) equivalent to the in-state COA of Penn State University Park (~$33,000). Alabama with the Presidential (full-tuition) plus Engineering Leadership scholarship brought our COA at around $15k. My son ended up not applying to any of the PASSHE schools because he didn’t like the location of the only one with engineering and we already knew he qualified for the Bama scholarships. But you would think that there would be some merit money at PASSHE schools for kids in that range to make the COA much lower.
And my kid was also one looking for the perfect little LAC. By the end of his senior year, it was the LAST thing he wanted. He was so DONE with going to school in a fishbowl, even a fishbowl he loved. He has had no issues with large lectures. He’d never had a class with more than 21 students before, and it’s no big deal to him. All the things I fretted about (based on what he needed when he was younger) just haven’t been an issue at all.
Really, you have to be prepared to have a unique plan for each kid when money is an issue. Grades, test scores, desired majors, willingness to travel - all come into play and can tip the scales in huge ways. I am so glad I’m almost done with this process!
@LucieTheLakie I don’t think TCNJ gives good money. We didn’t apply because my son wouldn’t have had a chance, but by comparison - our Valedictorian applied there and Rutgers as safety schools. She received a free ride to the Rutgers Honors College and TCNJ gave her $6k!!! Johns Hopkins ended up costing her about what TCNJ would.
@MACmiracle my son was accepted to Stockton but never visited. A good friend works in admissions there and said most kids who get into Rowan and Stockton end up at Rowan because it’s higher ranked and has more things to do around campus. That turned him off without even seeing it, although I’ve heard it’s a really nice campus.
@LucieTheLakie I agree.
Some of the PASSHE schools do give full tuition board of governor scholarships for Valedictorian/Salutatorian and maybe for diversity? I think Shippensburg website mentioned it? And some have small amounts of $1,000-$3,000 (IUP and Slippery Rock come to mind).
It can be challenging to find affordable instate options if you don’t qualify for enough need based or merit aid.
My D wanted pharmacy, back then Temple still had automatic full tuition for her stats, but it was twice as far away from us as Pitt. Duquesne also gave her good merit and a few thousand in need based aid, but it was much more expensive to begin with. Thankfully she got the merit she needed to be able to attend Pitt.
We also looked at Ohio schools, but they weren’t less expensive and 5 or more hours away.
Also we had to look at OOS tuition rates for the pharm D program, which were much higher than instate.
My S wants music education, so I am looking at PASSHE and maybe some LACs instate, because they have some good programs.
I am hoping with some merit, teach grant, state grant and student loans, it will be affordable.
“Wrong” side of the state, @mommdc, but West Chester has always had a very strong music/music ed program.
And Temple, too, if it’s affordable!
Another vote for West Chester for music education. Back in the dark ages when I went to college (~50 years ago), West Chester State Teachers College was THE place to go for music education
Hello all,
This is my first post but I just want to share some info about my child. My son was offered a full tuition scholarship at West Chester (It was called the Board of Governors and was for kids with a STEM Major) He was also offered a 5000.00 academic scholarship at Bloomsburg. He is leaning towards Bloomsburg (Honors Program) because he likes the campus better. His stats are 1320 SAT and 29 Act or 31 if you superscore. Top 10% in his class and a 97 gpa. He has taken about 8 ap/honors classes. He was accepted into a bunch of private schools including Bucknell but we don’t qualify for financial aid so instead of taking on high debt he is most likely going to Bloomsburg. His major is Compsci. Just wanted you all to know that public schools do have some merit scholarships available.