As I mentioned many pages ago, Toledo offered my D17 excellent merit and need-based aid. Too bad she realized it was cold there. She now is unhappy with the majors offered at West Chester. The exact one she wants is of course readily available at Toledo! Too late now for the excellent aid. Not that she’d go to Toledo anyway but she’s now talking about how much she wishes we could afford Pitt. I wanted to mention that it’s also cold in Pittsburgh but decided to save my breath. No use arguing with a glass half empty, never satisfied teenager.
Lycoming gives a lot of merit too.
But yes, these public OOS schools can offer more major choice sometimes.
Toledo is excellent in health/science majors too. I looked at it for pharmacy.
The Penn State and Pitt branches have a bit lower stats usually, most PASSHE and Catholic schools and LACs in PA are very comparable stats-wise.
@Portercat apparently there are over 40 colleges in WV.
@Portercat also there might be some schools in Maryland or NY that might work.
@Cookies510 there is a Parents of 2018 thread for 3.0-3.4 GPA that might be helpful.
You can also look up the thread from 2017 and see results/how much merit the students got where.
@kidzncatz How is she liking the WCU experience overall, other than being unhappy with the selection of majors? Which major does she wish they had? Thanks.
@mommdc I know of many colleges in WV, MD and NY. I was curious about larger ones in WV that offer similar merit to WVU. I don’t believe that Towson in MD is as generous to OOS, for example. There are lots of smaller LACs in both states that offer merit, but it is a typical merit offer on top of an already inflated tuition model (ex. 50-60K -> 35-40K), which I don’t see as quite the same thing as public colleges that give OOS tuition waivers or other scholarships to bring down to PASSHE level.
Slippery Rock for overall quality of life and sports nuts. Millersville for science. West Chester for reputation. Cal U has a nice campus. I’m an alumnus of Lock Haven - do not recommend. I would look at Pitt and Penn State branch campuses along with the better state schools.
@Portercat I think she likes WCU pretty well, though she is someone who always thinks the grass is greener on the other side. She already has an apartment and roommates lined up for next year. She prefers (or thinks she prefers) larger schools, so thinks West Chester is “small” (14,000+ undergrads). She didn’t have very good professors 1st semester, but has better ones scheduled for next semester. She is interested in Digital Marketing. She will probably stay at WCU and major in marketing. Some other PASSHE schools have majors more in line with what she wants, but I don’t think she wants to transfer to a smaller, less prestigious school. She hasn’t yet come to grips with the fact that most people don’t get everything they want. She certainly didn’t get this sense of entitlement from me, but having multiple acquaintances who plan to transfer from WCU to Temple isn’t helping to dispel this attitude.
@kidzncatz Thanks! Is her “apartment” next year off campus? Is it a better deal than on campus housing? We have heard that one drawback about WCU is that off campus housing can be pricey since it is a suburb of a big city (Philly).
I wonder about the benefit of transferring to Temple too, as it would typically be much more expensive (and little/no merit for transfers).
Wow, yeah, Temple is way more - I wonder why her friends went to WCU in the first place if Temple was affordable? That doesn’t make a lot of sense, but then again, there are vast majorities of parents/kids who don’t go through the research gauntlet that we do here on CC…
@kidzncatz - i feel you with your D wanting to keep up with her better-off friends. My D is at a private school (with need-based aid) and has been feeling like the poor relation for years now. The good thing is that it has kept her perspective pretty realistic as far as college goes. She knows how much we’ve struggled to pay this tuition; she has no illusions about magic wands and fairy godmothers suddenly giving us the ability to pay anything more.
@Portercat Yes, the apartment (townhouse) is off campus, about a 9-minute walk from campus. The rent is $1800 a month divided among 4 students, plus utilities. Should be about $500-520 a month, around $6000 for the year (11 1/2 month lease). This is more than the traditional dorms but less than affiliated housing. And (this is a big “and” for my daughter) she won’t need to buy a meal plan. She should save quite a bit on the cost of food. This is low-end off-campus housing. Nicer apartments are obviously more expensive.
@Gatormama The only reasons I can see for such a transfer would be because those students could not get in initially, as transfer admittance is usually not as difficult. The other reason may be for different majors or programs, and/or social opportunities, but probably not financial.
Speaking of Temple U and moving off campus, one of my friends had her daughter move off campus (locally) sophomore year after some peer pressure, but she wasn’t really ready. She found that there weren’t good or safe grocery options close by, and the mom ended up taking groceries down to Temple from the suburbs every weekend.
4 deaths at Temple U so far this semester:
Wow, too busy to really poke around on CC and look what happens when you’re away! so many great posts.
@Cookies510 Welcome to the forum. Unfortunate that your son prefers PSU UC. Very high cost school. DS was only offered $5K there in merit, pretty much same for Pitt. They were out of the question, yet none of the PSSHE schools offered engineering. It was a stressful time! He was lucky to get the Presidential Scholarship at Bama.
We also looked at Temple and he was adamant he didn’t want to go there. Not impressive enough as several kids from his school attend. 8-| However, I do agree Bama did offer far more than he could ever have received at Temple.
I have to say I have ended up being pretty impressed w/ some of our state schools. We also searched out a lot of suggestions, many made here, yet most didn’t offer DD the opportunity of taking a minor in linguistics or Chinese. Both of which are offered WCU & Bloomsburg, respectively.
@mommdc Thanks for posting the Bloom scholarship link. No, DD did not apply. I have told her to check the sites before, there are only 2 schools for cryin’ out loud, but she did not. Grrr.
@laralei, from what I saw there is still time to apply for Bloomsburg scholarships, and it seems there is just one application for all of them. She should be able to access that application in her Husky account.
@laralei my son never filled out the scholarship form and still received a merit scholarship from Bloomsburg. I looked back through his paper work and he received the letter about the scholarship on December 13th of last year so your daughter may see something soon. That being said she should still fill out the scholarship form because you never know:)
So, we did a drive-through of Kutztown (and Muhlenberg) on the way home from NYC back in September. There was no reaction from S19. Now that we know he wants to focus on English and writing, I looped back around to KU. The English and Professional Writing options look pretty good. Might have to take a closer look.
@InfiniteWaves I have always wondered about KU. I really liked the campus and our tour guide last year. I am less than impressed with student reviews on niche. I am always trying to figure out whether the students are really happy overall but it is tough to tell with KU. It speaks to spirit and a sense of place to me. I want my kids to be proud of where they graduate.
The “corporate” reputation is kinda questionable for business and internships, etc. at KU, especially considering their proximity to Philly, but the art program (and perhaps the English/Writing majors) seems pretty reputable.
@InfiniteWaves I can’t speak from personal experience, but D18 has said a lot of kids at her school are talking about Kutztown & how it’s a great school; so you have that to go by, for all that it’s worth. 
Also, reading back a few pages, there was a discussion about our state schools being for average stat kids. I agree w/ a poster that remarked that our state schools are also good for those who have limited choices due to finances. We aren’t looking for schools where the COA gets down to the level of our state schools, we need schools that are even cheaper. That has not happened w/ any of the NPC’s I have run.
I know w/ DS, who was high stats, our options were limited, and those full tuition plus scholarships are not even available anymore.
@portercat Right there with you. KU hasn’t been on my radar. But my younger S is an art kid. And since I’m in college research mode, I decided to see which PA schools are NASAD accredited. KU is one of them, along with several of the PASSHE schools. The KU art program sounds great. Which led me to check out the English program in more detail.
S19 is following in my footsteps. Majoring in English is encouraged in my house. I’ve been a journalist and copywriter for the entirety of my still-going career. I work with designers every day. It’s been hard for me to discern which PASSHE programs are good for future professional creatives. So now I’m going on “Hey, knowing what I know about career paths for English majors, do the course offerings cover a variety of areas?” The Professional Writing major through the English dept at KU is quite comprehensive.
@laralei Thanks for the info! That’s really helpful to know.