I did net price calculators for Lycoming, Geneva, Grove City, Susquehanna and Muhlenberg the other day, and was surprised that with merit and need based grants, the net price was at or lower than the PASSHE schools for us.
Looks like we’ll be doing a brief visit with Bloomsburg, driving around Slippery Rock quickly, and then hoping to visit Otterbein for a brief morning visit next week on our way to the Rockies for vacay. Any tips for what to see at any of them? D is into theater, env. sci., lacrosse. Tx!
@Gatormama Can you meet with the theater and science department while there? A coach?
Is she looking to play lacrosse in college?
Yeah, she wants to play. I doubt she’d get recruited anywhere, as she doesn’t do travel teams or showcases and we aren’t in a lax powerhouse area, by any stretch of the imagination. But she still would love to play.
I’m hesitant to tie us (and them) up with formal appointments, even if folks are in town (and it’s the July Fourth week, to boot) … Our first priority is our vacation, and I don’t want to commit us to a schedule, really.
I just figured it was silly not to at least visit, since we have a small amount of time. So if there are any highlights people think we shouldn’t miss, or ways to maximize the time, I’m all ears!
Well, I don’t know anything about Bloomsburg. But Slippery Rock is a small town. So walking around campus, maybe stopping at admissions office and seeing if any of the tour guides might have similar majors/interests and can give her some info, might be a good idea.
You can also google for “virtual tour of Slippery Rock University” by SRU admissions youtube video. It’s pretty informative.
DD is registered for tour of Bloomsburg in July. Looking at dates on Mon, and several dates are closed already. The more I read about it, the better I like it, however, it is there website. 
I was hoping she could get a TEACH grant, but looks like BU doesn’t have that program. 
Still worth looking at, she likes the size, and when I toured years ago with oldest DD, I really liked it. I’m sure there have been a number of changes since then, so looking forward to it.
She is leaning towards WCU, and they do have the TEACH grant, but she is not sure if she wants English or math education. Math qualifies, English doesn’t. Boo.
@mommdc I am surprised to hear that Muhlenburg and Grove City came in that low on the NPC unless test scores are fairly high. Grove City has limited aid (since they don’t provide or receive federal funding), and Muhlenburg has a high COA to begin with (something like 3X PASSHE cost, before aid)
Are you working with high test scores?
@Gatormama …McKeever Environmental Education Center is used by SRU. Not far from campus.
http://www.mckeever.org/
“The McKeever Environmental Learning Center is a public service institute of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.” The center is administered by Slippery Rock University of PA as a public service institute
BTW, I am a graduate of SRU. Loved the experience, great education, great connections. I go back every spring and meet with graduating seniors and review their portfolios. Of course, when I graduated in 1986…cost of tuition and room and board was about$5,000 - $6,000/yr and I received state grants to help with that. My daughter(was really picky throughout this process) absolutely loved SRU and Bloomsburg as well. Bloomsburg has a cool college town feel but is not near any major city. SRU is just 45 minutes from Pittsburgh and we used to go to Pirates games, Steeler games, concerts and the works. If SRU had a swim team…she would have enrolled there.
No, I used 3.78 GPA and around 1100 SAT. And FAFSA EFC with 2 in college of about $6,000.
I only looked at direct costs (tuition, fees, room and board), minus scholarships and grants, when looking at the net price.
Grove City
$26,654 direct costs
-$6,100 scholarship
-$3,950 state grant
=$16,604
Muhlenberg
$59,280
-$38,000 Federal/State/institutional
-$8,000 scholarship
=$13,280
Geneva’s net price was $17,890, Lycoming $15,587, and Susquehanna $17,953
Thanks. Never realized how significant need aid can be, I guess. If one doesn’t receive need aid they would pay $152k more for their education at Muhlenberg. I suppose the merit is just the “scholarship” portion. There are many other threads on CC about the bifurcation of college students based on income.
Yes, and in our case, in the second year the need based aid would be reduced when there is only one in college.
@mommdc I also found Muhlenberg was also slightly less than Bloom, BUT, it requires the CSS/Profile and I do not want to get into that and I am very uncomfortable having that much need based gift aid. Anything could happen and then we go from slightly higher costs at the PASSHE schools to totally unaffordable at Muhlenberg. Also, we have 2 in colleges now yet youngest will be the only after her first year. Too many financial variables for me. That is why I only looked at guaranteed merit for DS and concentrating on PASSHE schools for youngest.
@laralei good point about CSS profile. And acceptance would also not be a given. I did the NPC mostly out of curiosity. I don’t think they have music education major, and it’s too far away as well.
But Susquehanna might be worth taking a closer look at. They even have some auditions on Saturdays, which I think is nice because they won’t miss a day of school.
My kid won’t have anywhere close to a 3.78 gpa (it’s about 3.2 now, headed into junior year). We’ll see about the SAT/ACT - intensive prep course this summer and first real attempt Aug. 26 - she did not shine on the no-prep 10th-grade PSAT, though, so there’s serious work to do there.
I will take a look at Muhlenberg and Susquehanna, though - thanks for the heads-up, @mommdc
Also, thanks, @bester1, for the SRU info. That’s great info about the envir center!
Bloomsburg tours are all full until later in July. That’s interesting news. The admissions office said we are free to walk around all we want, though.
Otterbein’s adcom wrote back last night and offered to set up an interview with their lax coach, but I just don’t think we’ll have the time. We are gonna self-tour at all three, I think, though we will sit in the info session at Otterbein.
I guess maybe Bloomsburg is on the upswing in terms of popularity? Makes me wonder why other PASSHE schools that are close by like Kutztown or East Stroudsburg cannnot get the same attention. What is Bloomsburg doing that they are not?
Bloomsburg University is an excellent school and is rated highly. Money magazine rates them as the 169 best with emphasis on return on investment.
Tied with Carnegie Mellon.
And they serve Pennsylvania residents first!!! I would not hesitate to send my kid there.
http://new.time.com/money/best-colleges/profile/bloomsburg-university-of-pennsylvania/
One of 14 universities in Pennsylvania’s higher-education system, Bloomsburg draws some 90% of its students from within the state. Its undergraduate enrollment is about 9,100, with another 600 students in graduate programs. About 10% are older than traditional college age. Students have their choice of 56 undergraduate majors, 51 undergraduate minors, and 21 graduate programs. BU’s 280-acre campus consists of two sites about half a mile apart and connected by continuous shuttle service. The student body remains predominantly white, but the university has made significant progress bringing in more diverse students. Last year, minorities made up 21 percent of the student population. The university’s graduation rate of 65% is a solid 29% higher than other schools with similar student demographics, according to MONEY’s analysis.
These are great stats @bester1, but not sure what they are doing differently. I would like to see more good options in PASSHE, instead of just one or two that stand out.
Cool comparison site here. I’ve highlighted WCU, Bloomsburg and SRU, but you can plug any three in:
http://colleges.startclass.com/compare/3582-3804-3835/Bloomsburg-University-of-Pennsylvania-vs-Slippery-Rock-University-of-Pennsylvania-vs-West-Chester-University-of-Pennsylvania
@Portercat We visited both Kutztown and East Stroudsburg. My son did not like Kutztown at all. He did not think they had a good computer science program or at least he was not impressed by it. East Stroudsburg was ok but it would have been a commuter school and he does not want to commute. Out of all the state schools we visited he liked Bloomsburg best. He felt the campus was the right size, the computer science department seemed like a good fit for him. Plus they gave him a bigger merit scholarship which made it the cheapest option for us. Now we are in the process of all the stuff you need to do before starting college and it seems like they are very helpful for first timers who have no idea what they are doing. I am extremely happy that he chose Bloomsburg.