@bester1, I live about a half-hour from West Chester University. I would not call it a commuter school these days, but I do think a lot of students go home on weekends, and I believe it’s still primarily populated by students from the eastern part of the state. It’s the only PASSHE school I visited with my older son, thinking he should apply there so he had at least one affordable in-state option. He liked it well enough, even though he was focused on much more selective private colleges at the time. In the end, he ended up not applying because they don’t offer engineering and we were concerned the existing STEM programs wouldn’t be rigorous enough for him. But it’s a great school for education (and a MUCH better value than a lot of the privates folks in my area spend money on for student who want to teach). It’s also gotten a lot more selective as more and more families in the southeastern part of the state balk at Penn State’s in-state price-tag and don’t like the location of Temple.
I’m not familiar with most of the other PASSHE schools, but I have lots of neighbors who send their kids to Bloomsburg, Millersville, Shippensburg, and Kutztown. And this is in an upper middle-class neighborhood. I think especially when a family has multiple kids to send to college, these schools are the most affordable options. I have good friends who live on the Main Line and after putting one kid through a private, selective LAC and another to a private art school, are sending the third to West Chester. He’s happy with their academic offerings, and they’re happy with the price-tag!
Interesting take on the PASSHE schools and tuition.
http://angeloarmenti.blogspot.com/
I would add St. Bonaventure and Siena, maybe Susquehanna College to your list.
Through the generous giving of the Bonaventure alumni, the cost of attendance on average is about $18k a year. US News has Bonaventure as the #2 best value in NY state and #5 in the east. It is much higher rated academically than the schools you listed. If it were test optional like several of the schools ahead of it in US News it would rank a lot higher
Bonaventure has exceptional alumni and great job and grad school placement. In the past few years $95 million has been put into the campus. It’s business facility is among the best in all of East. You also get legitimate D1 sports. The basketball teams had incredible years this year and recruiting was best in school history.
As a PA resident and close to Millersville and Shippensburg, they were two of the earliest schools my D looked at (and liked Millersville a lot better, to each his own). Having really not looked at tuition prices around the country it is really insane how much more expensive our PASSHE and the State related schools are than state flagships and state directional elsewhere. I know there are some other northeastern states in similar situations, but the bang for the buck at a lot of the PASSHE schools is really starting to decline from a value/ROI perspective compared to public schools in other states. It really is not affordable to many kids and families in-state the way it should be. There are some very under rated schools and good teaching in the PASSHE system, but the system itself is somewhat of an embarrassing wreck.
Hi Skates76. I agree that there are some good schools and some of them are underrated. I just wish that PA could get it together and provide affordable higher education.
We took a visit to Westminster College of PA today. Beautiful campus, extremely friendly staff and tour. Great programs a strong swim team. My daughter said it was too small!!! lol. We keep trying.
Anyone have any experience with Westminster College of Pa?
@bester1, you might get a better response if you make a new thread about Westminster in the College Search & Selection forum. I’m not sure many people on CC are familiar with PASSHE schools, so this thread probably won’t get a great response to your question.
Thank you for the suggestion.
@kidsncatz, @bester1 Wow, this thread is speaking to me as a PA resident disgruntled with our college options! My daughter is also a junior, and dragging her feet on this process. We also live in a good district (# 9 HS on US World and News just yesterday) but will not qualify for need based aid, and her scores are not off the charts, so merit aid may be limited. She has a good GPA and is working her way through APUSH as well. We are looking at PASSHE schools also and LACs (Elizabethown and Muhlenberg) seem too small/quiet and expensive for us.
I have been trying to compare on other factors; 4 year graduation rates, how “happy” kids seem when rating in online forums, etc.It is not always easy to find this type of info. Bloomsburg seems to have happier students for some reason and they tend to stay there and graduate (relative to Kutztown, for example). Shippensburg is somewhere in-between. We also liked York College of PA, as it seems to be a good option for kids in our situation. Has anyone looked at East Stroudsburg recently?
@Portercat Crazy…our situations are so similar. Our high school is rated # 6 in PA according to that new report(I dont know how valid that is?). I have heard the same about Bloomsburg. I think it is very attractive with many opportunities. Bloomsburg’s financial health is strong as well. I do not know much about East Stroudsburg but I have heard Kutztown is an attractive campus and an interesting town.
Looking at the Catholic schools is a good idea. My wife went to Le Moyne for undergrad.
St. Bonaventure, Le Moyne, St. John Fisher and Nazareth are the best options in upstate. Bonaventure is legitimate, ranked D1 basketball, which in a small school is especially nice.
I’m surprised you are going to Canisius and Niagra over these.
I believe she will look at St. Bonaventure. She likes Buffalo, near Canada and enjoys the Canisius/Niagara rivalry.
She could try St Lawrence if her course rigor is good (test optional).
@bester1 The rivalry is between all three known as “The Little Three”, Bonaventure, Canisius and Niagra. Just a little Western NY trivia.
@bester1 Maybe you are closer to these schools in NY on the western side - many of them would be 5-6+ hours from the Philly area. I also think merit aid must be a real option for you, as they are much more expensive (sticker).
Also, some of the PASSHE schools may consolidate or leave the system but I cant imagine it collapsing. Can you imagine PA being the only state in the nation without a viable state college system?
@Portercat The three schools above happen to have good aid. Bonaventure is the #2 best value in NY State and #5 in the entire East according to US News, and its a private school with a beautiful campus. Average cost of attendance is $17k a year with room and board.
@portercat I agree the entire system is unlikely to fail, however west Chester and Slippery Rock would like to leave the system.