First off, I would make sure she is not in the honors college at Rutgers. A 31 ACT translated to SAT is just below what Rutgers reports as the average SAT (2160) and her grades are top. Rutgers moves slowly so she may not find out about honors for some time yet. I would also ask her guidance counselor about the honors college there.
Since you said the PA schools is small and ranked well below Rutgers and is not Temple, it seems it is not Penn State or Pitt. Has she looked at Pitt? While big, it is much smaller than Rutgers and does give some merit money to OOS students with top stats. It is in a city, but there is a lot of green space on the campus and it is adjacent to a big park.
Make sure you check into the percent of commuters at the small PA state school and how many kids leave for the weekend. Does it have a marching band?
Good luck!