Because what happens if the person she needs to speak to is unavailable and has to call her back?
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!
Look into some SUNYs and Kent State on this list, they might come in about same price range as Rutgers.
Yes, Pitt would be great for public health, epidemiology, especially with the UPMC network nearby.
Maybe she could go there for her masters, and go to a smaller, more affordable NJ school for bachelor’s?
This maybe shooting from the hip, but given your moniker, how about Irish schools. They will be more than Rutgers per annum but undergrad is typically 3 years so may work out a wash, and they will definitely be less than OOS state schools in the US. Trinity Dublin is world renowned.
OP did your daughter consider Univ of Rochester? Very few schools have an undergraduate epidemiology program/major. Rochester does. Most schools just have a public health major. Also Rochester is generous with financial aid even for those who otherwise consider themselves full pay. They are generous with arts scholarships or other forms of aid.
For example my daughter was an epidemiology major at Rochester. She had similar statistics to your daughter (4.4 wGPA with 30 ACT, 32 superscored). We also were full pay but my daughter received a $15,000 a year scholarship (she was a dancer).
http://www.utoledo.edu/hhs/healtheducation/BS.html
http://www.utoledo.edu/admission/freshman/scholarships/scholarship-grid.html
U Toledo also gives merit scholarships
Thank you, all, for trying to be so helpful! Neither Pitt nor Penn State has public health undergrad so we eliminatated. I printed out the accredited schools within 10 hours and went from there. Pitt has an incredible grad program if she gets that far! I eliminated Rochester solely on the basis of tuition. Perhaps we’ll give it another look…
It’s very difficult to say at $30,000 the minute you look out of state but last week Temple had riots and today students got stabbed at Rutgers! The Universe is working against me 
As far as Ireland: that would be great for my second daughter but just too far for my first. She is slightly on the spectrum and struggles socially. I think going away will be good for her but just not that far. As more acceptances roll in in the next months, I’ll have to keep fingers crossed!