yeah, i am planning on contacting penn state. pitt i can’t really make work because due to my acceptance at both campuses, they forced me to make a campus decision. they gave me an estimated FA offer for both and looking at 20k vs 5k with no affordable safety i chose bradford.
I’m going to throw this one out at you. Look at Wisconsin Whitewater. It’s about $22,500 for out of state students. Don’t know anything about financial aid, but it could be workable. It’s a decent size and relatively inexpensive location.
have you thought of taking a gap year and applying to some schools that are test-optional and/or have no application fee? more than half of the colleges i applied to were free, and some were even test-optional. here are some, but warning: most are liberal arts colleges.
free to apply:
carleton college
colby college
grinnell college
kenyon college
macalester college (before 11/15)
oberlin college
rhodes college
test-optional:
pitzer college
free to apply AND test-optional:
bowdoin college (free if you are first-generation and/or are applying for financial aid)
connecticut college
denison university
union college
hobart & william smith colleges
** other colleges i know that have no application fee: reed college, tulane university, the university of chicago (if you are applying for financial aid), sewanee: the university of the south, lawrence university, trinity university, st. olaf college, and smith & wellesley colleges (if you are a girl).
if you decide to take a gap year, those are some schools to help you get started. most of those schools meet 100% of demonstrated need.
thanks for the suggestions guys! i really feel like a gap year would be detrimental to my mental health and i really do not want to take one but if that’s what i end up doing i’ll look into it. a problem with a lot of these places is their very low acceptance rates which did not really work out for me the first time, probably due to my lowish SAT and average GPA (1320, 3.9W)
First gen (at colleges that factor that in) means neither parent has a 4- year degree. Deindustrilised town may be a boost like rural, I’m guessing. It brings geographical diversity.
What’s your UW GPA?
Have you taken some AP or de classes ?
My school doesn’t report UW, and I took 4 aps and a bunch of other honors in my 4 years.
Adults here will help you’package’ yourself for the NACAC list.
Sounds like a very rigorous schedule and good grades in your honors/AP classes are always a plus.
Are you waiting for more replies?
How many slots do you have left on your common app dashboard?
If a college isn’t free to apply, what can you afford - or can you earn a couple 100$'s to help pay for a few more apps?
Lesley University in Cambridge might be worth checking out.
Edited to add: it’s not large, but you’ll probably get in with merit and FA. It’s right next to Harvard. I have heard internships for art students are good. Not sure if Lesley has your communications focus.
@MYOS1634 i am waiting for 1 reply from CMU but i am expecting a rejection so i’m not holding out for anything. I took up 4 slots on my common app dashboard, idk how many there are, so whatever it is minus that. i have a couple hundred stashed away, i could go out and buy a visa type thing and use that (keeping in mind i’d also have to pay the 12 bucks to have my SAT sent for any of these colleges. i’d also prefer not to have to use the collegeboard CSS Profile bc it also costs money to put schools on it. we’re literally a couple hundred over being able to have a fee waiver.) @madgemin4 it looks like lesley only offers communication and media studies as a minor.
You’ll have to email colleges to ask for a CSS profile fee waiver.
Can your GC put your test scores on your updated transcript? Most colleges accept those and this way you don’t have to pay to send them.
What’s your budget (from parents’contribution + any savings of yours + expected Pell/state grants)?
Common app has 20 slots so that’s a potential problem you don’t have, and lots of colleges are free to apply.
I forgot what your state of residence is?
my GC could absolutely do that, i will email her now and ask her.
pell grant would be 3270+5500(loan)+estimated PHEAA of 2942 is 11712. my EFC is 3000 dollars. that would add up to around 13k. i think a reasonable expectation for my parents is around 10k after FA and merit. i dont think i have anything in savings, but i could make a couple thousand if i worked full-time in fast food or something else over the summer, and then more if i keep working part time or night shift throughout college.
Edit: state of residence is PA which seems to be my big problem here, lol.
I agree that your best bet is to do your 2 years at upitt bradford and transfer after 2 years. Forward momentum is important, especially if you would just be working a random job during a gap year. After that your best bet might be try to transfer campuses at upitt. You said your parents are trying to make it work, maybe only paying 2 years at the bigger pitt campus will be do-able. Also, your first 2 years at any college is going to be the basics for the most part. Important thing is to do your very best those first 2 years to maximize your transfer potential. Then you’ll have more than just your sat scores and h.s. gpa to recommend you. Even if you graduate from bradford, a degree is better than no degree.
I was in much the same situation financially as an undergrad except I had ZERO financial support from home. Every year I went to back to school owing thousands of dollars and would show up at the financial aid office to beg for Help! My parents didnt even know how much my college cost. This was in the years before schools had even thought to cover full need. While I’m sure this doesn’t always happen, they always found a way to make it work and I was able to graduate from there. (I also worked my butt off to make ends meet.) Another kid I knew did 2 years at a community college and then transferred in. And you know what? Our degrees both say we graduated from the same university! I doubt the difference in our paths made much of a difference in the long run.
Hang in there and keep moving forward!
I agree that your best bet is to do your 2 years at upitt bradford and transfer after 2 years. Forward momentum is important, especially if you would just be working a random job during a gap year. After that your best bet might be try to transfer campuses at upitt. You said your parents are trying to make it work, maybe only paying 2 years at the bigger pitt campus will be do-able. Also, your first 2 years at any college is going to be the basics for the most part. Important thing is to do your very best those first 2 years to maximize your transfer potential. Then you’ll have more than just your sat scores and h.s. gpa to recommend you. Even if you graduate from bradford, a degree is better than no degree.
I was in much the same situation financially as an undergrad except I had ZERO financial support from home. Every year I went to back to school owing thousands of dollars and would show up at the financial aid office to beg for Help! My parents didnt even know how much my college cost. This was in the years before schools had even thought to cover full need. While I’m sure this doesn’t always happen, they always found a way to make it work and I was able to graduate from there. (I also worked my butt off to make ends meet.) Another kid I knew did 2 years at a community college and then transferred in. And you know what? Our degrees both say we graduated from the same university! I doubt the difference in our paths made much of a difference in the long run.
Hang in there and keep moving forward!
Do you have a branch campus you can commute to? It’d be better than Pitt Bradford - and Bellisario is excellent ( for the last 2 years) with LOTS of industry contacts.
Ask to switch to the closest branch directly today, same major.
Thinking on the rest.
thanks @njparent49 thats most likely what i’ll end up doing if i cant get better aid at penn state. @MYOS1634 the closest pitt campus is an hour+ commute and the rest are between 2 and 5 hours. pitt-bradford is also the cheapest tuition wise. if penn state doesn’t come down on tuition i could do the 2+2 program with a local branch campus. it would still be more expensive than pitt bradford, and i’ve been there and it’s small and security kind of sucks but it’d be doable, possibly.
Yes that’s what I meant- a PSU branch campus for the 2+2 to Bellisario (Bellisario is the famous Hollywood guy who donated millions to the school of communication so the school bears his name. Which btw means there are hidden scholarships you have to hunt for on the website, find, and apply for ASAP.) Bellisario is one of the top schools for communication.
What is the branch or if you have two what are they?
How much did Penn State gap you?
Commuting to a branch would be suboptimal in terms of college experience but the last two years would be good.
If you could make main campus affordable through scholarships then obviously it’d be better but unfortunately Penn State is unaffordable for many instate. 
Then there are still more options…
There are solutions. We’ll figure it out.
my closest branch is a commuter branch (no housing) thats is very close to my actual location so i’d rather not state the name. and penn state gapped me roughly 20k a year after my 5500 loan.
i found a scholarship form im gonna fill out, it said to contact for freshman eligibility so i am doing so
they actually gave me a 2k university trustee scholarship and a 1200 grant so im not sure how much i’ll be able to get by calling them ): but it’s worth a shot
OK, 20K isn’t doable. So, UP isn’t in the cards for now.
Remember:
You’re trying to find a possible safety that doesn’t hold you back.
That commuter branch is far from ideal, but if you ask to switch to it from your admission at UP, they’ll say ok, and may throw in some scholarship (worth a try). You’ll likely be able to afford commuting without using your federal loan, using only Pell, Pheaa, and parent contribution. Take the loans and “bank” them (put the amount in the bank). After 2 years, you’ll have 12K in the bank that you can use for your last 2 years on Main Campus.
Also, ask to be considered for Schreyer at the branch campus. Not all branches have that, but do ask directly to the Honors office at the branch. Bonus, you may get a scholarship from it. 
Since you can’t give us the campus, we can’t hunt for scholarships on your behalf, but start right now, and email the dept of communication’s Dean, to ask whether they have any scholarship for rising freshmen communication majors. (Indicate your stats and provide a resume). Your message should start with “Dear Dean W” or “Dear Professor Z” and end with “Thank you. Sincerely, … …”
This is what your 2 years would look like (some would be Honors if you were admitted to the Branch campus Honors) - counting on 5*3 credit classes per semester, give or take:
ENG 15, 30, or 137H
CAS 100 or 138H
PLSC 1, 3, 7, 14,17, 20, 22 (2-3 of those)
IST 110
Stats 100 and/or Math for citizenship
Comm 160
Comm 180
Comm 260
PSU 009: freshman seminar in Communication
Gen eds and electives
(Look up what the class numbers stand for but overall pretty interesting)
Check with your branch campus to see if they offer those and whether they offer some of those as Honors.
So, while it’d be a suboptimal experience, it’d lead to a good degree and it’d be a good way to get there.
Compare with Pitt Bradford’s offerings.(Right now, PSU has the edge on Pitt for Communications).
Pitt Bradford doesn’t have Comunication, but they do have Writing.
Your classes would include
Magazine production
News writing
Newspaper staff
Introduction to non fiction writing
Feature writing
3 classes in literature