@InfiniteWaves Did you look at Elizabethtown, since it seems close to you? I really liked it, but my D didn’t as much. The cost and merit is probably similar to Susquehanna and Goucher.
@mommdc I was just looking at base cost based on what the schools are posting online. Bloomsburg says $10, 500 tuition and 9440 room and board, for $19, 940. Many schools do charge extra for the newer dorms or suites. Some kids will opt out because of that because of higher cost.
Yes…you can go to Bloom(Tuition/Room and Board for about $20,000/year). Excellent value.
I’ve already gotten three emails today from IUP . One telling me about their strides in football, and the other two asking me for money! :).
@Portercat Yes, we’re planning to attend the Etown open house in the spring. 
I still think many schools in Ohio and WV are no-brainers for us in PA to consider. The costs can be close to PASSHE prices; in some cases better. And then it gets down to fit and academic priorities. I have seen much better academic offerings at the OOS schools. While I’m glad D loves the fit of West Chester, I worry that it doesn’t have the best matches for her interests. Sure, she could cobble something together, but there are better options elsewhere.
@Gatormama Are there other schools in WV (other than WVU) that are good candidates? For those of us on the east side of PA, Ohio and WV are significant distances and distant east-west public transport options aren’t quite as flexible as north-south (Philly to NYC, or DC to Boston, etc.).
@Gatormama, It might be helpful then, to post ideas of how to get these OOS costs down to at or near PASSHE prices for the average Pennsylvania kid. On paper, at least, the costs seem much higher for OOS students. For basic tuition , room and board for OOS at Ohio University, it is $33, 972. At CNU, It is $37, 394. I glanced at WVU and Marshall and those prices were quite a bit higher than PASSHE prices as well.
Not sure of other WV schools other than WVU, so yeah, should probably temper that state.
As far as getting costs down, for WVU, my spreadsheet (which might have year-old info) has the middle 50 SAT range at 1000-1200, and avg. GPA of 3.42. (WVU superscores for scholarships, too) My D is above those benchmarks. The WVU site is helpful on how much merit aid you get for thresholds, and for D’s stats, it’s around $9k p/year. That’s before any departmental aid, and we’re hoping for that also, if she heads in the theater direction.
Ohio U is similar in terms of average stats (1070-1270) and merit aid opportunities.
Here are my notes on OU’s policies:
Ohio University splits tuition into two pieces: “tuition” (approx $11,500) plus an “out of state surcharge” (approx $9000). If you are admitted to the Honors Tutorial College, your “tuition”)in-state amt) should be covered, leaving only the out-of-state surcharge. BUT you also qualify for the Ohio Trustee Award which covers part of the out of state surcharge. It’s a sliding scale from $1000 to $7000, depending on academic merit. But since it starts with an ACT score of 22 (or SAT 1020), if you have a much higher score, your entire tuition bill will be only a few thousand dollars, better than having the out of state portion covered. These are four-year renewable scholarships. The Ohio Trustee Award applies whether you are admitted to HTC or not, and there are other merit scholarships as well.
I haven’t run the research yet on Kent State, Bowling Green, etc, but I plan to “soon.”
@sevmom My oldest D is out of state at CNU. She had a very good GPA but mediocre test scores in HS. She is participating in the PLP leadership program with a set amount of volunteer hours per year, and gets a scholarship for it. She is working on campus (about 7-10 hrs per week, it varies). She will also go abroad for 1, maybe 2 semesters, will receive additional scholarship money to go abroad, and will also pay in-state rates. For those semesters abroad it should be less than PASSHE. She is also borrowing some. It is not ideal, but she is “hacking” the costs the best that she can while still attending. I wanted her to go PASSHE.
@Portercat Glad CNU is working out! Only one of my kids’ friends went there and he seemed to like it. If you haven’t been to the Mariners Museum yet in Newport News, be sure to go. It is a wonderful museum.
@Gatormama you are my kindred spirit with your spreadsheets! Normally I would have the same but my slacker son had me frustrated so I was hands off for awhile until I really started considering the overall costs of the schools he was applying too. The PASSHE schools are great for certain majors but lack many of the options of the bigger institutions.
Which could end up being ok but my son is undecided. He says he’s not interested in engineering but has very strong math & analytical skills and I’d like him to remain open to the possibility. I took a good look at FSU today and really like the FYA program & the potential for merit aid and/or in-state tuition.
As for the PASSHE schools do you have a spreadsheet of which schools offer any kind of merit aid? I saw it mentioned that several of the western PA schools do but did not see any mention of the eastern PA ones?
I’m only concentrating on WCU, with Bloomsburg and Slippery Rock as distant also-rans, @Cookies510 … We visited Bloomsburg and Slippery Rock and D wasn’t feeling it, but we will probably still apply just to see what they offer. She would be close to honors college at either of them, and that brings more merit.
SRU has honors scholarships of $1500 p/yr for SAT 1290 or ACT 27 (supersocres) and 3.8 GPA; not sure about weighted vs unweighted. Also a $2k p/yr scholarship for 1220 and 3.5 (not sure if they’re stackable)
For B’burg, 3.27 is avg. gpa and there’s similar merit aid to SRU.
WCU has the same 1290/27 3.5 GPA requirement; a bit more opaque on what you could get with that.
https://www.iup.edu/financialaid/types-of-financial-aid/scholarships/undergraduate-admissions/
https://www.iup.edu/financialaid/types-of-financial-aid/scholarships/honors/
Just did a preliminary scan of Bowling Green:
ACT test score of 27 and a GPA of 3.50 you would be eligible for a scholarship valued between $3,000–$4,000. You will also receive the BG Success Scholarship, one-half off the non-resident fee (current value of $4,000).
OOS COA comes in at $32 and change. So that brings you back down around WCU’s COA.
@Gatormama Don’t forgot U of Toledo. 
Drat, right! It’s on the list now. Thanks
@Gatormama U Toledo is a distance but solve that problem by starting a carpool to U Toledo for all Pa families (and Pa family wannabes like us!). We can chip in to rent a van and for gas and tolls. I will start in NJ and can pick up at spots along the Pa Turnpike. NE families can come down the NE Extension and meet us at the Plymouth Meeting mall. 
I just looked at Toledo. It is amazing that they will give so much money to OOS students with minimal stats (2.75 GPA or 1060 SAT with 2.3 GPA).
Same with Kent State, @sevmom -
Honors scholarship: act27/sat1280 + 3.6= $1-$6k p/yr;
Founders: 3.8; act29/sat1350=$500 to full tuition;
OOS: 3.3; act25/sat1200= 1/2 off OOS surcharge ($4182 p/yr);
3.25, act21/sat1060=$1-$5k p/yr
All that with a total coa of $29.5 for OOS
Avg gpa is 3.38
ACT middle 50 is 21-25.
My D would shine here.
And they have all the right majors - checks close to every button.
ETA - to those who say, “eww, why consider a school with such mediocre stats?” – Bloomsburg’s average GPA is 3.3 and its middle 50 ACT is 18-23 and 950-1150 for SAT
WCU is higher, granted: 3.49 avg GPA and SAT 1050-1220; ACT 21-25.
But still: It’s not like we’re giving up a ton of “quality” to consider the cost savings at these OOS schools.