Help building out college list for rising senior, Northeast, Early Child Education [MA resident, 3.3-3.4 GPA, <$30-40k]

Applying to College
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I will be the voice of dissent about attending college in the state in which one wants to teach. Looking at these two sites from the Massachusetts Dept. of Ed (1 & 2), it appears that so long as your D completes a teacher prep program that is accredited in its state, then MA will honor it for the initial 5-year license. I am someone who went to college in a different state and earned the licensure credential there and then moved to a different state and was able to my license with little difficulty. I believe that MA used to be a state where that was problematic, but according to the sources I linked above, that seems to have changed in 2014. Thus, I don’t think it’s a must to stay within state boundaries to find the best fit school for your D.

I know that your D is interested in living away from home and not attending a community college. I am interpreting that to mean that she is interested in a school with greater residential life and not a commuter school, so please correct me if I’m wrong. The campuses that you mentioned as being dead on weekends have 77%, 71%, and 54% of first year students living on-campus. Thus, I focused on schools where the percentage of first-year students is preferably much higher than that. I will tag @MYOS1634 who may be able to provide additional insight on what life is like at some of the Pennsylvania schools I mention, as local information and context can provide much more insight than just statistics.

I did some preliminary research which I’ll share in a subsequent post (please note the accuracy caveats, particularly about the undergrad population), and added on some schools in NJ and eastern Pennsylvania that were not as far as Buffalo from the MetroWest Economic Research Center. These are some of the schools which I think she may want to investigate more closely, some of which have been mentioned by others upthread.

  • Millersville (PA ): 72, primarily a residential campus, 75% of first year students live on-campus, about 5600 undergrads

  • Kutztown (PA ): 68, primarily a residential campus, 85% of first year students live on-campus, about 6400 undergrads

  • Shippensburg (PA ): 54, primarily a residential campus, 86% of first year students live on-campus, about 5100 undergrads

  • U. of Scranton (PA ): 25, primarily a residential campus, 82% of first year students live on-campus, about 3600 undergrads

  • Susquehanna (PA ): 23, primarily a residential campus, 94% of first year students live on-campus, about 2100 undergrads

  • Widener (PA ): 22, primarily a residential campus, 87% of first year students live on-campus, about 2800 undergrads

  • DeSales (PA ): 21, primarily a residential campus, 76% of first year students live on-campus, about 2100 undergrads.

  • The College of New Jersey: 20, primarily a residential campus, 86% of first year students live on-campus, about 5500 undergrads (really about 7100 undergrads per College Navigator).

  • Salve Regina (RI): 15, primarily a residential campus, 97% of first year students live on-campus, about 2100 undergrads

  • Eastern Connecticut State: 15, primarily a residential campus, 87% of first year students live on-campus, about 3500 undergrads

  • Plymouth State (NH): 10, primarily a residential campus, 93% of first year students live on-campus, about 3300 undergrads

  • Keene State (NH): 10, primarily a residential campus, 94% of first year students live on-campus, about 2700 undergrads

  • Endicott (MA): 8, primarily a residential campus, 97% of first year students live on-campus, about 3400 undergrads

  • U. of Hartford (CT): 6, primarily a residential college, 83% of first year students live on-campus, about 4k undergrads

  • SUNY New Paltz: 6, primarily a residential college, 91% of first year students living on-campus, about 6500 undergrads

  • SUNY Cortland: 5, classified as a residential college, percentage of first year students living on-campus not available, about 5900 undergrads

  • Stonehill (MA): 4, primarily a residential campus, 92% of first year students live on-campus, about 2500 undergrads

  • SUNY Geneseo: Offers a major in early childhood ed, but I suspect that because students become certified in both early childhood and elementary ed, that the IPEDS data is only showing hem as elementary ed. About 3900 undergrads, primarily a residential college with 97% of first-year students living on-campus.
    Obviously, there are a couple of schools that went over 5k, and if your D decides that she’s willing to go a little smaller than 2k, there are some other schools that could definitely be worth a closer look as well.

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