<p>We are vacationing near Franklin Pierce in a couple of weeks and are considering looking there as well as Keene State. What does she liked especially about the school?</p>
<p>I don’t have a student at Franklin Pierce, but have stayed there myself from time to time for conferences. Since the great outdoors is on your list, check out Mount Monadnock, which isn’t more than 20 minutes away. And for kayaking, you’ve got Pearly Pond right on campus. There’s also an indoor climbing wall. And for downhill skiing . . . well, you might have a bit of a drive, but there’s plenty of skiing not too far away! Trails for cross-country skiing are even closer.</p>
<p>Now, I know this isn’t on your list, but one of Franklin Pierce’s claims to fame is its glass-blowing studio - one of only two, I believe, at undergraduate institutions in the U.S.</p>
<p>For political science and public policy, check out the [Marlin</a> Fitzwater Center for Communication](<a href=“http://www.franklinpierce.edu/institutes/mfcc/index.htm]Marlin”>http://www.franklinpierce.edu/institutes/mfcc/index.htm).</p>
<p>I know that Franklin Pierce has a less than stellar history, but the current administration has really worked to turn the place around. My understanding is that in political science/media, it has a strong program and good reputation.</p>
<p>And something else not on your list: one of the original houses on the estate is believed to have been a stop on the underground railroad.</p>
<p>Don’t know much about sports/school pride - although I believe they have a strong baseball program. There’s no college town - you’d have to go to Keene to find that, but Keene seems like a great college town! Relatively small, but a lot going on. Two theatres - one on campus and one downtown - with great concert programs, and lots of restaurants/bars. Pretty quiet during the summer, but active during the school year.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is ironic. How many times have I seen posters from the northeast admonished by people from states such as IL, MI, CA, VA, MN, WI that their very academic kid’s college list MUST include their “state flagship,” and how many times have I and many others attempted to explain that U Maine Orono is not Berkeley, or U Wisconsin Madison, for that matter?</p>
<p>I’d say the shoe is on the other foot. Trust me, we already know.</p>
<p>As far as the OP’s inquiry is concerned, I’d say that U VM is your best bet. Orono is not much of a town, and the U Maine campus, while reasonably well-maintained, is undistinguished.</p>
<p>Thank you for the update on Franklin Pierce. Glad to hear that the new administration is trying to change the image of the school. I guess we’ll have to visit the school on our vacation, especially since it seems to have good merit based scholarships, as somebody indicated before. We actually know the Monadnock Region very well. My kids and I grew up going to summer camp near the Ringe NH area and we continue to vacation there every September. Keene is a great small city/college town.</p>
<p>Tuition, room and board at UMass Amherst is about $23,000 for 2012-13, a bit less with the Adams Scholarship (free tuition, $1,714). For those who don’t qualify for any or much need-based aid at the privates, it takes a lot of merit aid to get anywhere close to that number. We looked at privates and OOS state U’s and my son applied to several. Even with some merit aid, the OOS state U’s were in the low-$30K range and the privates were in the mid-$40K range. He’s having a good experience at UMass (engineering), working hard, doing well (Dean’s List), playing some club and rec sports, and I don’t have to mortgage my future (or his) for him to go there. No, it’s not perfect, but I believe the value is hard to beat for a Mass. resident.</p>
<p>OP, what my D has liked the most about Franklin Pierce has been her ability there to already be able to assume leadership positions (hired as a CA (like RA) for second semester of Freshman year - the 6th freshman in the 50 year history of the school to get a CA position), and the ability to connect with professors even if not teaching one of her classes…A friend who was a junior told my D about a trip students in a class where going to take to Harvard to see rare mammals, and hear a Harvard prof. speak on the topic. Well, my D is not a science major (torn right now between Political Science and Recreation Management) but thought the trip sounded really interesting. She approached the professor, introduced herself, explained how she had heard about the trip, and asked if she could join in. The prof. questioned her about any classes she might miss (her one class that day had been re-scheduled) and then gave her permission to join the trip. That really impressed my D. At a larger school, she probably would have run into everything from “you aren’t in my class” to “you aren’t a junior/bio major/etc.” She learned so much on the trip and was so grateful for the opportunity. She told us that although she had wanted a much larger school, she was really glad she was at FPU and able to take advantage of so many opportunities.
Another poster wrote about the glass-blowing hut. This has also been an interest of my D’s, and she was thrilled that they were starting a club and not only glass-blowing majors would get to learn. Sports are a big deal on the campus, but time, money, and attention is also given to other interest groups, which is important to my D. My D’s stats were in the upper 25%, and she was a bit worried she might not find the challenge or intellectual peergroup --far from the actual experience to her surprise! She has found the student body to be very diverse in interests and outlooks, and this has really pleased her.
As a parent, I also have to say that I have been very pleased with the administration. The couple times I had financial aid questions, I was able to reach someone very quickly. I had to also speak to the head of res. life to get a diff meal plan for my D when she couldn’t call/email this summer herself, and even that went very smoothly, and the person I had to contact answered while on vacation! A question about the U. health ins. (which is built into tuition, not billed separately) was trickier, but workers kept searching until they figured out the person for me to speak with. The admin seems to be just as responsive to students, and that’s a plus to me.</p>
<p>Westfield State University in Westfield, MA is also a great state school. Pretty campus, fun location, and actually not that far driving distance from UMass.</p>
<p>I have heard very nice things about Westfield State. We know of several people who have attended there and have been very happy. However. my son is currently leaning to wanting to attend a larger school. Of the state universities in New England, he has seen UMASS, UVM and UNH. UNH is the most appealing to him. His grades and his SATs and ACTs scores may entitle him to some merit aid and he hopes to look into the program that has been mentioned in a previous post about the possibility of reduced tuition due to programs offered at the different universities in New England. My husband and I don’t want to say to our kids that they have to apply and go to one of the state universities/colleges of Massachusetts because it’s the most affordable. From personal experience, my husband attended the state university because it was the cheapest but he was miserable the 4 years that he was there. While we have to be realistic in what we can afford, we would like to give him a bit more flexibility in what colleges where he can apply.</p>
<p>You may find that you can find more affordable options by looking at private schools than OOS publics, because they have more money to spread around.</p>
<p>We have our private college list and our public university list for that very reason! It will be interesting to see how it all adds up in the end.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is not always the case. It’s really only a few dozen private schools that give out enough financial aid to meet 100% of need. The vast majority of them don’t. It’s just a mistake to assume “private school” = “has a lot of money” = “gives better FA.” That’s true for the small minority of private schools that do have a lot of money. And I believe federal Dept. of Education statistics show that average net cost after FA turns out to be lower at public institutions for most students. OOS publics generally tend to be higher in cost than in-state publics due to higher OOS tuition and less FA directed toward OOS students, but even that is not something you can universally assume. In some cases an OOS public will turn out to be cheaper than the in-state public.</p>
<p>I don’t think I said or implied that it was always the case. I thought the OP was limiting the search to publics, and wanted to make sure they checked out the possibilities at private schools as well. Although only a few schools meet 100% of need, there are also merit scholarship possibilities to look into.</p>
<p>I started this thread to get some “inside” information on New England State Universities. My son had visited UVA and UNC-Chapel Hill and fell in love with the campuses and what the universities had to offer. Being realistic and knowing how highly selective both schools are for Out of State Students, my son is trying to find a school with the same qualities of UVA and UNC but closer to home and perhaps more of a match/safety school. He has visited UMASS AMHERST, UVM and UNH at this point and likes UNH. However, since state universities only look at FAFSA in determining financial aid, we have been told and it has been confirmed in this thread discussion that need financial aid is minimal for state universities. Also on the advice from a college financial planner and restated by many people in this discussion, we have also investigated private schools that are known to provide good merit and need based aid. I appreciate the feedback that everyone has given me.</p>
<p>You sound like you guys are doing great getting a viable list going!</p>
<p>UNH -OOS about 38k
UVM -OOS about 49k
UCONN -OOS about 40k</p>