My daughter will be a freshman at Cleveland State University in the Fall. Bloomsburg was a finalist but cost ended up to be approx $4,000/year more to attend so she is going out of state. She also liked the connections with Cleveland Clinic.
The HS class of 2017 in our area seems to have plenty of kids going to PASSHE schools.
We will be looking at several for music education, because they have good programs and merit alone would not bring costs down to affordable level at the private schools.
@NJWrestlingmom I don’t know, as I mentioned earlier.
@mommdc : apparently Mansfield IQ really strong for music and is easy to get into, so it’d make a perfect safety. 
My son committed to Bloomsburg. He will be in the Honors Program and studying Computer Science and maybe Business. He received a 5000.00 per year merit scholarship so it makes it affordable for us. All the private schools he applied to were way to expensive even with top merit scholarships offered. Our EFC is high. Overall I think he made the right choice.
@sparkleybarkley …I think Bloomsburg is a great choice!
Good luck with the decision @Portercat .
It seems that on CC and this thread only 2 PASSHE schools (maybe 3, out of 14) are represented, West Chester and Bloomsburg. Hop over to the Penn State threads and many more branch campuses are represented, talked about, etc. Maybe that is indicative.
I don’t visit the Penn State threads, but are finances a huge concern for them as well?
We have a PS branch campus near us and oldest DD was able to attend and keep her part time job. They gave her just enough PS grant money to offset shortfall from max federal loans and Pell and PHEAA grants. I realized into that first year she would never be able to transfer to main campus, it would not be affordable.
The PS brand is a huge attraction for many, even if it is only a branch campus.
@sparkleybarkley Congrats! Please join the parents page for the class of 2021 on Facebook. As August move in approaches in will provide a wealth of information for new parents
Anyone have any information they could share regarding Youngstown State? I have really been trying to go through all the schools mentioned that are even remotely affordable. We looked at Youngstown and did the calculator and it looks like our out of pocket would be around $4K, IF DD can improve her SAT score. (that is after the federal loans she would qualify for)
Like many have posted here, she is adverse to the PASSHE schools, as nobody wants to go to a PASSHE school. (per the students at her high school)
Since I am trying to make the PASSHE schools more attractive, I have also been looking into the Honors Programs at the top 3-4 PASSHE schools. The one at West Chester looks really good, and I have told her it’s near Philly, so is not close to home.
Anyone have any suggestions/information they could share on the Honors Programs? West Chester, Bloomsburg, or Slippery Rock?
@laralei, I live about a half-hour from WCU and have many friends who’ve sent their kids there or have a student there now. I don’t know a lot of specifics, although when I checked it out with my oldest son (the one at Bama), it looked like there was some very nice merit money available to top students. Everything I’ve heard about the honors program has been very positive too. Don’t know if you’ve ever visited, but it’s a pretty campus in a nice area, and is in HUGE demand in these parts as an alternative to Penn State and Temple.
Tell your daughter there are a lot of smart kids at West Chester, including from some very nice Philadelphia suburbs.
Thanks @LucieTheLakie, her GPA as of now is around 3.8 but her test scores just aren’t high enough to be considered a top student. Testing again in June and we shall see. I think we will take a trip to West Chester. I know most of the kids in our HS go to closer state schools, or PSU branch.
It looked nice on their website, and I believe is the only state school that has not had declining enrollment, which is a concern for me with the other state schools.
@laralei Not all of the state schools have enrollments that are declining as rapidly as others. Some are more “steady”. WC is in the best position, for sure. Some are really hurting and will likely have layoffs in the next year or so.
My D was in the same position with test scores. No merit offered from PASSHE schools, but did get some from others, like York College of PA.
Yes, @Portercat, I have looked at York as well. Might still be a consideration, though I have heard York, PA isn’t a very nice city. However, I thought the school and area looked fine on the website.
@laralei, yes, it’s arguably the premier school in the PASSHE system - to the point where there was talk a few years ago about West Chester leaving the system entirely, with legislation (Senate Bill 1275) actually drafted toward that end in 2014: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/21/universities-want-out-pennsylvanias-higher-ed-system
Re your daughter’s test score, here are specifics about merit scholarships for incoming freshmen:
http://www.wcupa.edu/_services/fin_aid/scholarships.aspx
It looks like their HC is fairly competitive for incoming freshmen: http://www.wcupa.edu/viceProvost/honorsCollege/prospectiveStudents.aspx
Good luck to you DD on her June testing. If she comes up short, there may still be time to invest in a good test prep class if she’s close to the cutoff for scholarships.
I liked the college, and there has been a lot of discussion on the city of York here on CC. Their fitness center building is fantastic, and the location seems decent for internships, between Baltimore, Harrisburg and Philly. They also have nursing AND engineering (unlike many PASSHE schools).
Some drawbacks; small-ish greek life, no football team, a “split” campus and requirement to stay in the dorms for 4 years. Reputation is really up and down depending on who you talk to, but the students seem dedicated.
Like I mentioned before, Lycoming, Allegheny and Geneva might be worth a look.
The West Chester scholarship requirements - hmm, does anyone know how they would handle a school that flat-out doesn’t rank? D19’s school doesn’t.
@Gatormama, I was wondering about that too. My son’s private HS didn’t rank either and didn’t calculate GPAs. When he applied to Alabama, the counselor attached a letter to his transcript that hand-calculated my son’s GPA - which they accepted.
Check with the university and your daughter’s counselor - this is a very common predicament these days, and I would think there’s a workaround.