If your daughter can do Penn State (University Park) engineering, yes it’s money well-spent if she has a scholarship or if you can afford it. If you can’t, the situation’s different. It’s not worth getting into more debt than the federal loans.
The Penn State University park program is highly respected and its alumni network -allegedly the largest in the country - will make a lot of difference for your daughter when she’s seeking internships (paid internships!), research positions, and later on, jobs.
West Chester is good (it does the job) but can’t be compared to Penn State UP.
Keep in mind that a girl in CS with even just-decent stats WILL get funding for grad school. So don’t factor that in. Unless your daughter plans to get a CS or CSE degree, then go to law school or med school, grad school in CS will not cost her anything, she’ll likely have tuition covered as well as a stipend.
Penn State Brandywine is a small commuter campus - there’s no housing whatsoever, even student apts off campus. 1,500 students, average GPA 3.02 (weighted), only 61 full-time faculty members teaching undergrads (to understand the enormity of this, ask how many teachers there are in your daughter’s HS…), SAT range 430-530 in CR and writing, 440-550 in math (meaning the top 25% have SAT scores in the low to mid 500s, and 3/4th of the students do not), range of ACT is 18-22 meaning 75% students aren’t college-ready. I didn’t even know they had CS or CSE.
WCU has 14,000 students, average GPA 3.53 (weighted), SAT range is 530-600 (meaning the bottom 25% at West Chester would be the top students at Brandywine).
You can always call and ask if your daughter can start at Penn State UP if she relinquishes her scholarship at Brandywine and starts in the summer (if that’s feasible financially).
I’m really not sure whether Brandywine + certainty of a degree from Penn State is worth it… if your daughter thinks she can do a good job at WCU+ transferring to Penn State, she could spend her first year (or two?) at WCU and transfer either after the first year or the second… but probably it’d be preferable to transfer after only one year (ie., on her Fall semester freshmen grades) as to be able to keep up with the UP pace and courses, which are more rigorous than at WCU.
Would that be possible? Or would starting at Penn State in the summer be possible (may help her get acquainted with the campus, make friends, etc.)
Did she get into the Honors College at West Chester? (If she has to apply, she should do so ASAP).