^^ Wow, those are great results. Congrats whatever he decides, @sparkleybarkley!
I wanted to express my appreciation for all of those that helped me with my daughter through this process. She committed to Cleveland State University for the Pre-PA program(access to Cleveland Clinic and University Hospital). She will be a scholarship athlete. With academic and athletic scholarship, her 1st year will be significantly less than any PASSHE school. WVU came close. I wish the rest of you good luck and good fortune. The process was a great ride.
Congratulations, @bester1 Sounds like a great choice!
@bester1 Congratulations! I couldn’t talk my daughter into seriously considering an Ohio school, once she realized it would be cold and snowy in Toledo. I do think Ohio is much more forward-looking than PA regarding its state schools. I hope your daughter has a great time in Cleveland.
Congrats @bester1! Good luck to your daughter! This site has been very helpful! I will probably quietly lurk while waiting for my daughter to start the process!
I really need to wean myself away from the highly addicting College Confidential, now that three of my kids (2 graduating in June, one class of 2015) will be going away to college in August. The only one still at home next fall will be in 8th grade, so I’d better take a break for a few years.
Congrats @bester1, Cleveland is a great city!
thanks for the info, @sparkleybarkley - nice to know there’s money to be had.
@bester1 - congrats on the decision! And I do hope you give us an occasional update, especially if things are much better or (hopefully not) much worse than expected 
congrats, sit back and have a nice deserved beer
good luck with the PA program
Does anyone know anything about the NYS free tuition program being available to non-residents? This story in the New York Times says you don’t have to be a resident, but I don’t see that mentioned anywhere in the actual state FAQ:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/nyregion/new-york-today-free-college-but-with-caveats.html
@Gatormama , I did some searching and I could not find another source to confirm that OOS students could receive the Excelsior scholarship. Other articles state it has the same residency requirements as other NYS grants.
Makes sense it’d only be available to residents…
@sparkleybarkley I have a freshman at Bloomsburg if you have any questions.
Thank you:)
@mommdc I am so glad you posted this. Currently, could change though, DD was thinking about going into teaching, middle school math. I had never heard of the Teach grant before.
With a quick search, looks like West Chester, Slippery Rock participates. Millersville seems very limited to the education program where it can be used. Can’t find anything on Bloomsburgs website though. These were the 4 PASSHE schools under consideration right now.
Would this grant be in addition to the Pell and state grants?
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/teach
I had heard about the teach grant somewhere and just assumed that all students majoring in education can get it.
But the above link gives some more info and that you have to agree to work in a low income area and in a high need field for 4 years.
And music education probably won’t even qualify for it. I will have to do some research.
I believe that a student can get it in addition to Pell and PHEAA, but you might have to ask the schools for details.
Yes, I think the TEACH grant is in addition to the rest of the grants.
Just as an FYI, we visited Stockton and D really liked it. I wasn’t as impressed, but it was a rainy day and I think that didn’t help.
D liked the wooded surroundings and the freshman-only housing area. She admitted the housing wasn’t especially remarkable but she found it cozy, especially compared to the new freshman housing we had seen at Rowan. Floors are divided into male and female, and the opposite sex needs to be let in by someone on the floor as their key will not let them in. Just mentioning this because it’s a contrast to much of what we’ve seen.
D didn’t get such a good sense about the academics as she did with the Rowan info session (not much of an info session there, just a tour) but there are the same small classes with no TAs teaching. Science seems to be an area of strength with a much higher percentage of science-related majors than other NJ colleges.
One point about academic life that I liked was that a student is paired with a faculty advisor who they meet with once a semester. The university does not hold classes on that day so the entire day is set aside for that purpose. If the student does not jibe with the advisor they are matched with, switching appears to be encouraged until the right match is found.
While D saw the woods, my attention was taken by the massive parking lot in front of the main buildings. It felt depressing to me, especially since we still had to wait for a space to open up. I was relieved to learn there are plans to transform the parking lot into a grassy quad once construction of surrounding buildings is completed.
Overall, it seems there’s a lot of growth happening, even without any talk of the new Atlantic City campus.
The food options we saw were limited to a food court, but I think there is a more traditional dining option somewhere on campus. Otherwise, it could seem like I was eating at a shopping mall.
OOS direct costs seem to be around $31K and scholarships are generous, at least comparable to Rowan if not better, I think.
FYI…Second study of PASSHE…say what?
Ugh, got that all wrong. The PASSHE study is being conducted by an organization that has received Gates Foundation funding; the second study is being done by the Legislature. So I predict we’ll end up with two studies finding diametrically opposite things.