@mweb136 Did your son’s total combined score go up? My son’s math score went down 110 but his verbal went up 100. So his first combined score was 1360 and the second was 1350. But taking the best math & verbal scores its a 1460.
@Cookies510 oh, ok. Both sections went up for my son so perhaps that is why then.
@Cookies510 I think the Alabama schools take the highest SAT from a single sitting.
Ohio State has the National Buckeye scholarship and some others that might stack, but priority deadline was 11/1.
U Cincinnati gives some nice merit too I hear and SUNY Buffalo has a Presidential scholarship. U Delaware might also give him merit.
At Pitt he can apply for the Stamps and Nordenberg scholarship if you are from PA.
There are supposed to be midwestern LACs that want more male students, so you could post in the search and selection forum here and maybe some people would have some suggestions.
Not to be rude or a jerk but this thread is titled “Best and worst PASSHE school?” For average or slightly better than average and how the PA state higher education system can benefit our kids/families as PA residents.
You’re right of course, @bester1, but we, as a thread “family,” branched out months ago to adjacent states, looking for merit that would bring those schools in line with PASSHE costs, while offering the same or better level of education.
I agree, though, that the focus should really remain on PASSHE schools.
For the PASSHE schools yes, WCU and Bloomsburg and IUP are very good schools with honors programs for higher stats kids.
Nothing wrong with them especially for teaching or speech pathology or pre-professional or many other majors.
If you want engineering it’s another story and merit can also be hard to get at instate schools.
I agree with @bester1, but want to keep this thread going and don’t want to discourage anyone from posting, especially PA residents. This thread was started and continued because many of us realize how disfunctional our college system in PA is (with state-related funding, state-related branch campuses, PASSHE, and being the 49th state in affordability/debt).
This problem is exacerbated for average (mid-stat) kids who cannot afford full tuition, since merit aid options can be limited. I welcome folks with high-stat kids to comment, but please realize that for those of us with kids who have average test scores or GPAs, affordable college options in PA are limited.
I only have 1/2 of a high stat kid…his grades are really mediocre and may be his downfall. My husband jokes the SATs is his hail mary. My second son, a sophomore, is likely to have lower scores since he has always struggled with standardized tests. But he’s hoping to play D1 baseball which is an entirely different situation that may or may not come to fruition depending on how things shake out over the next year or so. I’m thinking the PASSHE schools may be a good option for him, especially since a few have very good baseball programs.
I was originally drawn to this thread in an effort to figure out additional PA state schools my son should consider adding to his application list because 1) I’m not sure he’ll get into PSU UP & he isn’t interested in a branch campus and 2) I’m not sure he likes Pitt or Temple enough to justify the extra $8 - $10K in tuition when he could go to PASSHE school, and possibly more if there is any merit aid (even if its just a small amount) from these schools. The sidebar conversations regarding other OOS schools have been very helpful to the process & I appreciate all insights! Although we haven’t figured out just yet what additional schools to add to the list…possibly Bloomsburg & Millersville (although Bloomsburg seems like a better value)
@bester1 I agree but why limit it to “for average or slightly better than average” students? Not all high stats kids have the financial means to attend more competitive schools and as I’m finding - my EFC is nowhere near reality - especially considering I have multiple kids to put through college. I’m hoping to find the best value which could be a PASSHE school even though its not much of a value when compared with the in-state tuitions in other states.
@Cookies510…Thank you and I understand. I enjoy all comments and perspectives…I just want to keep this thread on track as there are few if any like it for “for average or slightly better than average” kid and families that will not receive any type of aid other than unsubsidized loans. I am fine with anyone wanting to post on the PA State System challenges…genius, average and/or just beginning to blossom. PA is in a crossroads particularly when you take into consideration that NY is offering free tuition and that the “State Related” PSU/Pitt/Temple are basically privates and the residents are subsidizing PSU’s 24 branch campuses and can’t fund the true state schools(PASSHE). PSU has been criminal in the treatment of the residents of the state and smiling as they receive funding. Although…hopefully this will be changing.
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/06/23/audit-blasts-penn-state-out-state-students
http://www.paauditor.gov/Media/Default/Reports/PSU%20Audit%20Report.pdf
I am simply asking to stay true to the nature of this particular topic. That’s all.
I have found a lot of help from this thread family. I am not a Pa resident and my D’s stats may be higher than some. But this thread and those who participate have a wealth of knowledge about PASSHE schools and how other Pa schools compare. That’s why I started reading it and why I post questions here. Honestly, there is not a comparable resource on CC or anywhere else that I know of. I hope all of you will continue to generously help others even if it means going off on some inconvenient rabbit trails.
The thing is, CC seems full of kids with super high stats and then thankfully some parents post about more average kids. But then there are the kids somewhere in between who really don’t have much more opportunities unless their families are either in the position to receive generous financial aid or are able to pay a ridiculously high amount for college. So, for most families on the lower end of middle income with kids with above average stats, the choices aren’t much different than the families of kids with average stats.
I live about twelve miles from Pa. I think PASSHE schools are a great choice for NJ families and I see a lot of car window stickers of PASSHE schools locally. They are less expensive than private colleges and not too much more expensive than our instate options.
PASSHE school base prices do not seem out of line with tuition in some other states. WCU tuition is 10, 110.66 per year , room and board 9060, total 19, 170. In Virginia, for instance, Radford (kind of closest to PASSHE type school),base tuition is 10, 627 and room and board is 9232 for 19, 859. Virginia Tech is higher . CNU is up to about $25,000 a year instate. William and Mary and UVa even higher . And Virginia does not have programs like NY, or Bright Futures, HOPE, etc. that some states have. I am glad you have this thread to discuss PASSHE and alternatives to that. It’s a struggle for most families to pay for college.
@Cookies510 & @bester1 My 2 cents. So much of college confidential is dominated by high stats kids and their parents, ivy discussions, “full ride” kids, and ultra competitive chance-me threads it is easy to lose perspective and in some cases, lose hope and just feel lost. This is one of the only threads that seems to include average or slightly better, especially for PA kids. It is still refreshing to me, and I rarely check in on other parts of CC anymore. At this point, at least for my oldest kids, I think I know the game pretty well (after a year of heavy research and family angst). I am most interested in seeing where things are headed in PA and college overall. I too wonder when and if there will be a major disruption in higher ed.
On that front, here is a new website for monitoring the system redesign progress in PA: http://systemredesign.passhe.edu/
For those interested in PASSHE facts…perhaps you have already seen this?
http://www.passhe.edu/FactCenter/Pages/student.aspx
Honestly if IUP wasn’t close to us and didn’t have such a great music program, I would be hard pressed to find another school with the same opportunities, at that price.
Yes, WCU is also excellent, but 4 hours away. There is Susquehanna, Messiah, and several other LACs, but there we depend on need based aid which can drastically change when you go from two in college to one.
So it’s almost closer to go to Ohio, Youngstown state has a great music department and gives merit to more modest stats, but we would lose the full state grant (YSU matches the OOS grant though 200%), and then he would have his teacher certification from Ohio, and not PA.
@laralei did you see this regarding Bloomsburg Freshman scholarships?
http://departments.bloomu.edu/finaid/Scholarships/FreshmenInstructions.pdf
@sevmom From what I understand William and Mary and UVA are highly competitive and have special dispensation to price themselves differently, even though they are state schools. I also think the directional U’s in VA are of somewhat better quality than PASSHE (JMU, CNU, etc.). This has been discussed before, may be somewhat debatable. CNU instate rate is 25 COA total (not tuition only).
PA loses when comparing to more southern states and some mid-western states in terms of cost.
Yes, I am aware CNU at about $25,000 instate is for both tuition and room and board. Radford is almost $20, 000, and is probably closest to a PASSHE type school. William and Mary and UVa are higher, as Pitt and Penn State are in Pennsylvania. There are definitely states with cheaper college costs , but the cost of living may also be lower . And, anyway, we don’t live in these other states!
The PASSHE schools are closer to $24,000 now for instate. Especially with suite style housing, and requirement to live on campus.
While we are chasing some merit with my “higher but not highest” stat S19, we most certainly can’t rely on that. We recently visited a couple of Jesuit schools and Goucher College, but he is totally aware of the fact that even with some merit, these schools could most definitely be out of financial range. As it turns out, he didn’t like the Jesuit schools. Loved Goucher. He also loves Susquehanna. We are going to look at Ursinus, Juniata, and Lebanon Valley as well. But who knows.
That said, we currently have Millersville and York College on the list as the commuter options. He would be totally fine with either and actually likes having some live-at-home options. And we have WCU as a definite “I’d love to go there” option. The fact that his cousin is currently an extremely happy senior at WCU helps on that front.
The plan is to attend the Ship open house in the spring. He already ruled out Bloom.
@mommdc I finally looked into IUP. At four hours away, it is way past the two-hour radius from home for S19. But it is a really great option. Maybe you guys should check out WCU and we should check out IUP. Just to see. 