Penn State Erie Behrend campus is very small. You can stay there all 4 years. Their strength at that campus is engineering technology and Plastics Engineering (that part of the facility is amazing). They don’t guarantee housing. When my S and I went to visit we saw very few students but my nephew attends and likes it a lot. There are only 2 dining facilities and you need a car to do anything off campus. It is a good option for a PA resident with good but not great gpa and sat scores. If you scores could have gotten you into main campus but for some reason did not I wouldn’t recommend it. Penn States satellite campuses have a close to 90% acceptance rate so I agree its like 2 years of community college. We also visited the VA Tech campus which is fabulous and every bit of a typical college experience. You don’t need a car to eat outside campus. Campus itself has many food options. Blacksburg was beautiful. The engineering building was stellar. Between VA Tech and Penn State Behrend I would say VA Tech all the way. My son is decided on RIT BTW.