Purple – you seem to be having a hard time getting this. PSU is a typical state university. Cornell is the odd duck school.
PSU is 100% a state school. Just like Michigan, Virginia, Maryland, UCLA, etc. But they all will have somewhat different governance and financial ties to their state. All of these universities have their own charter. They are all public charter schools. Sheesh!
Only part of Cornell is a state school. Only certain of its colleges receive state support. Only certain of its colleges provide an in-state tuition discount to resident students.
If you want to keep hammering on how PSU is just like Cornell, then please identify which colleges/programs at PSU (i) receive no state funding and (ii) do not provide an in-state discount.
We all know that PSU receives a relatively low level of state support as a percentage of its budget and that it operates with substantial autonomy. Which you can say means it operates somewhat “private-ish.” That could be said about LOTS of other state schools too.
My school (UVA) gets less than 5% of its budget from the state, has one-third OOS enrollment, operates at the highest level of statutory autonomy separate from VA, has $7.5 billion endowment, and has two schools (law, business) who are explicitly “financially self-sufficient.” It is way more “private-ish” in operating reality than PSU is.
But I wouldn’t waste anyone’s time trying to convince someone that UVA isn’t a state school or that it is just like Cornell.