My son has applied to private and public schools. He has been offered merit scholarships from private schools to bring full cost (including 10K room and board) to around 24K. He has been accepted to a PASSHE state school merit not reveled yet but accepted into the Honors program with low tuition. The one school we haven’t heard from is the one her likes the best ,PSU, but heard they do not give much merit aid. Basically my question is it worth the extra Tuition and student loans to get a STEM degree from PSU even a branch campus than it is to get one from a PASSHE state school? Will he be offered the same caliber of job when he graduates?
What particular STEM major? Strength of major at each school varies by major (biology, math, CS, mechanical engineering, etc.). So do post-graduation job prospects, if that is a concern with respect to paying off student loans.
How much of a difference in cost and student loans for each option?
For the traditional engineering disciplines (Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical), there are good reasons to forgo the extra-expense of privates and other states’ public universities in favor of your own public university. Corporate hiring of newly minted engineers can be mostly a regional set up. Yes, premier STEM schools do attract recruiters from all over the nation. But you’ll notice that dozens of major technology and industrial companies recruit all over the nation as well. Of course it depends upon the engineering discipline, but just keep in mind that not all engineers at Ford Motor Company are U Michigan alumni, just like not all petroleum and chemical engineering jobs go to alums from Texas colleges. DuPont just doesn’t hire U of Delaware graduates, etc.
@crazycat220 Is the PASSHE school Shippensburg? We were at an open house there & I know they offered software engineering & were starting an electrical engineering program as well, though not accredited yet.
We also live in PA. DS was top 2% of graduating class. PSU & Erie only offered him around $5K in scholarships. Pitt wasn’t much better. Very poor aid, we could not afford for him to go to either. We passed on all the PASSHE schools.
He is attending University of Alabama. He is taking ECE & CS.
Did you check out Temple in Philly? I believe they offered hardware/software engineering as well as CS. Temple has lower fees than PSU. They also had a terrific Honors department, seemed actively involved w/ the students. DS wouldn’t attend Temple & their Computer Engineering really seemed liked a throw away. At the engineering presentation the professor skimmed right over it.
Just a few of our impressions looking for engineering in PA. Many here far more knowledgeable than me. 
If student can find the college that he likes and this college offers the highest Merit award, then go for it. For many STEM the name of school absolutely does not matter. Engineering, CS, pre-med, it does not matter where one goes for UG. The free tuition / full rides are the best given that he likes the school.
If the applicant’s profile includes a high GPA and high test scores, these STEM schools might provide enough aid to meet the student’s need;
U of Rochester
Clarkson University
Stevens Institute of Technology
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Illinois Institute of Technology
U of Dayton
There are additional low-cost STEM public university options;
U of Alabama-Tuscaloosa
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
Ohio University
SD Mines is a particularly good bargain. The school has a great reputation nationally among professional engineers. A very large proportion of the students are not from South Dakota, and there are students on campus from as far away as Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Texas and New Mexico.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/21/universities-want-out-pennsylvanias-higher-ed-system
This is a link describing how some of the Pa State schools want out of the system and why. I thought you might find it interesting.
I would ask schools about internships. I would ask where the students get internships and how many kids get them. Does the school help them get internships? I would ask if there are any businesses that agree to take that schools students.
I would ask if there are research opportunities on campus during the year. How many? Who they are offered to?
I would ask where the graduates have been hired and if students are accepted to graduate programs.
Internships and being on a research team will greatly help your student get a job.
Good luck.
The VERY BEST college, however, is the one that you can afford for all 4 years .
Where one attends undergrad has little weight in employment decisions as a whole, in the vast majority of industries, particularly in comparison to things like relevant experience. However, there are exceptions. You can find some companies or persons who are in hiring decisions who are big on hiring from what they consider to be top colleges for their field, prefer colleges that they know well and/or have a good past hiring history at that company, like to hire from their own college, prefer military colleges, etc. Campus recruiting sometimes follow these goals, but more often tech companies have notable recruiting at nearby colleges that have a large number of students pursuing relevant degrees and in some cases have special connections, which can make it easier to be hired at that company. For example, it might be easier for a San Jose State grad to get work at Apple SJ, UCSD at Qualcomm SD, or Marist at IBM NYC than grads from other colleges with a weak alumni network and no campus recruiting. LinkedIn confirms a disproportionately large number of hires from these schools. Most colleges have career center info that goes into more detail about which companies attend career fairs, where recent grads often work, typical salaries and employment rates, etc.
In the survey of hundreds of employers at https://chronicle.com/items/biz/pdf/Employers%20Survey.pdf , as a whole college reputation was ranked as the least influential factor in evaluating resumes in tech industries, along with all other industries except for education and communications/media. When asked about desirability of specific types of colleges, tech employers as a whole ranked them as follows, scaled to 1-5: There was a slight preference towards public flagships, and little difference between elites and other nationally known, non-LAC public/privates.
Public Flagship – 4.03
Elite College – 3.89
Private, Not For Profit – 3.86
Public, Not-Flagship – 3.85
Nationally Known College – 3.83
Regionally Known College – 3.77
Technical College – 3.74
Local College – 3.63
For Profit College – 3.37
Liberal Arts College – 3.21
Online College – 2.64
Unknown College – 2.63
@LakeWashington and @Data10, I’m not sure you realize that for the OP’s son, the in-state flagship is actually more expensive than some privates.
Personally, I say choose the best fit from those schools that you can afford.
If the privates are between PSU and PASSHE in price, why aren’t they in the discussion?
PA resident here (whose kid, like @laralei’s, chose Alabama’s full tuition plus engineering offer). The PASSHE schools come it at around $20,000 a year, so that will likely be your most affordable option, especially if they throw in some merit money. Penn State, in state, is around $32,000/year before any FA is received. PSU is extremely stingy with merit money (and the merit money is at best token), so unless your son is Schreyer material, don’t expect much of a price break from PSU (and even then it’s only a ~$5,000/year award).
In general, unless the parents have saved the full amount for college or can fund it easily with current income, I usually recommend the student go with the most affordable option when considering ABET-accredited schools. I’m fairly confident that, if your son completes his degree with a decent GPA, he will be employable. You can check with each school to see how their graduates do in general with regard to career placement.
The other thing to consider, however, is the student cohort. Are there enough STEM students at these schools that your son will find “his people”?
My son is really enjoying his experience at UA. Their honors college is huge and within it are enough bright students that he doesn’t feel like a duck completely out of water, but there are times when he finds the classes, even the engineering ones, just too easy and not challenging enough. I think that has more to do with the pace than the actual content, but he’s a kid who probably could have held his own at some really selective schools if we could have afforded them. This is where the “fit” part comes in. You haven’t shared your sons stats, but knowing them may help folks make more specific recommendations.
Have you searched all the ABET schools in PA and beyond, @crazycat220? I ran a PA search here, but it might not open, but do try running it. If your EFC is around $24,000, there may be some good private options out of state (both private and public).
http://main.abet.org/aps/accreditedprogramsearch.aspx
Also what is your son interested in studying? CS is one thing, but far fewer PA schools offer the full breadth of engineering. Make sure it has the major(s) he’s interested in because transferring into engineering at another school can be nearly impossible. (Same with CS, which may or may not be in the engineering school.)
Penn State is very expensive, but the range of STEM majors they offer is breathtaking. It’s tough to walk away from unless you’re pretty set on a major that another school offers. In our case, UA is particularly strong in ME, which my son was pretty sure he’d major in, so it wasn’t as big a gamble as it would have been if he had no idea.
Well Penn State satellite Campus would probably only work for first two years. If commutable then tuition/fees is about $15,000. But then for engineering I’m pretty sure he would have to transfer to main campus and that would cost $30 k at least.
Have you looked at Ohio State? It would be very good for engineering, but deadline for merit is coming up soon, Nov 1.
Also U Toledo or U Akron or U Cincinnati all have engineering, you have to check if they have what he is interested in, but they should all offer merit.
What are his stats?
Also did you run net price calculator for Lehigh, Bucknell?
Geneva has ABET accredited engineering and they are generous with merit.
Another post indicates that the OP’s student has a 3.95 HS GPA, 24 ACT, and 1500 SAT (with 480CR, 600M = 1080 CR+M), but retaking tests in June (results?).
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ suggests that Prairie View A&M would offer a full tuition scholarship (remaining cost probably about $13,000 per year). At higher test scores, other schools with engineering would offer full tuition or better scholarships.
If those scores are correct, it’s unlikely he’d be admitted to PSU-UP for engineering, let alone receive merit money. He might have a shot of getting admitted to DUS, but he’d need a 3.0 to get into many engineering majors and would be up against some pretty stiff competition. Penn State engineering is pretty rigorous and they’re not shy about their methods for weeding out those who can’t hack it. Many (most?) of their engineering students have had a year of calculus already too.
From another post in the Penn State forums:
I also don’t see a software engineering major anywhere at Penn State. I’m confused, though, because two of the threads started under the user name are from the parent and another is from the student. Maybe Mom got the name of the desired major wrong? Here’s a list of Penn State engineering majors, several of which are only offered at branch (“Commonwealth”) campuses: http://www.engr.psu.edu/students/undergrad-prospective/majors-minors-certificates.aspx
Shippensburg offers a software engineering major: http://www.ship.edu/Academics/Programs/Undergraduate/Software_Engineering/
Why software engineering instead of CS?
Yes, especially the math score should probably be higher for PSU main.
Penn State Engineering beats PASSHE engineering - it’s not comparable for professional outcomes. However, your child’s SAT/ACT scores mean admission to Penn State main (and even Altoona/Erie for engineering) is unlikely. Since Penn State weighs GPA 2/3, it means a 1850 may suffice for engineering but even that is iffy and he’d be better off with 1900 and assume most admitted candidates will have 2000.
Has he taken all three of Bio, Chem, and Physics, + at least 1 AP class? Is he taking calculus (AB or BC)? Does he have 4 years of a foreign language? A yes for all 3 questions increases his odds. Each “no” decreases the odds.
Have test scores increased since last year?
Are the privates youre considering accredited?
What’s your EFC? If it’s low, colleges such as Lafayette and Lehigh could be cheaper than Penn State but he’d need much higher scores (and 700 +in math) to have a shot.
Thank you all for your responses! Here are his stats.
3.91 weighted gpa
25 act. 680 math 480 English 480 writing. Act better
6 credits from Pitt for French 1&2
4 AP classes
Rest all honors
Electives include robotics, digital and game design, mobile app design. Loves physics, calc, and computer science.
We live in western pa. He wants to go away to “experience” college but not too far from home. He has gotten excepted at Westminster and allegheny and most likely Gannon. Has gotten accepted at slippery rock honors program. He likes computer science at the liberal arts schools and sru has a major computational physics. Applied there because his mom went there. He has to check the accredited status for them. Seems like even with merit aid all private coa ends up being around 24k. He was blown away with PSU and is first choice. Possible civil or mechanical or cs. He also liked the ist program at PSU.
Efc is about 5k. We have saved about 35k for his college. I assume we will get some grants too.
You all have given some great info. Greatly appreciated!
Did he or will he retake the ACT once more?
PSU is a long shot with his ACT, but possible i he accepts another major or engineering at Erie/Altoona, especially if he’s already applied thus met priority deadline, and accepted Summer Session - still iffy though. Don’t expect much in terms of grants or financial aid. 
But some people are lucky, so who knows? Have you run the NPC?
He may want to apply to Temple. He’d qualify for more financial aid and would likely be admited straight into engineering or CS.
Allegheny is a GREAT college. Well above SRU, Gannon and Westminster academically. But for engineering he may be better off at SRU honors, if the program’s accredited.
So, essentially, COA is 20k above what you can pay…? That’s a problem.
If he’s interested in CS, he’d have many more choices than with civil or mechanical engineering. note that MechE is basically the most brutal engineering major.
Yes we want him to get the best education in a field that interests him and helps him land a decent career. He is still waiting to hear from Allegheny and the SRU CS major is ABET. However they do not have engineering. He isn’t taking the ACT again He took both twice. Smart but gets too nervous during those tests. I know he will have to take loans and he is applying for multiple outside scholarships. He knows he could possibly get an RA job which would cover room and board after freshman year. Honestly I don’t know if he knows he wants to be an engineer, but his interests lie in the STEM area. And he likes to be challenged. I guess we need to complete the fasfa in Jan and then compare costs, majors and location! I will mention Temple to him too. Thank you!
So you can pay about $8,750 per year for four years, or $7,000 per year for five years, out of that college fund. Can you pay any more from current income, or not? The student can take a $5,500 federal direct loan and earn a few thousand dollars per year through work (probably $10,000 per year total student contribution would be the maximum realistic limit).
It does seem like a rather problematic circumstance to be living in Pennsylvania (poor in-state financial aid) with a student whose stats are not high enough to get much in the way of big scholarships ( http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ lists only Prairie View A&M as a possibility, and most in http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/ are likely more competitive than the student’s stats are realistic for) or admission to the best financial aid schools.