Thanks - Hartwick is on the application list but somehow missed it was “right there”. Not sure we’ll be able to schedule it in for a tour since we’re already pressed on time (multiple tours on multiple days) but can definitely be worth a drive/walk through to get the vibe of the campus.
I have more schools on the application list than I’ve listed out to tour/visit at this point with the intent being “if you get in and it’s price competitive we’ll go visit for accepted student days”.
I agree that decision time is the more important time for a visit. Accepted student days make a lot of sense.
definitely what they are known for, I would double-check their current financial situation, I think it was dicey at one point in recent past. May be fine, but I would encourage people to do their homework on it. (amazing location though!)
Has your family had a chance to visit these yet, or do y’all have a late spring break? I’d love to hear the impressions from the visits.
Hartwick has a new pricing structure in place for fall, 2025:
$22.000 = tuition
$16,000 = room & board
$38,000 = total
There are also up to $10,000 in scholarships available.
In the middle of break now… just came back from Keene State, UMaine-Orono and UMaine - Farmington. Oneonta, Cortland and Kutztown over the next 3 days.
Anything specific you’re looking to find out? I can keep an ear out or ask the relevant questions… Otherwise will do a write-up early next week.
Oops, sorry for interrupting your vacation! No specific questions, really, though it’d be nice to find out if most kids stay on-campus over the weekends, and whether kids who are academically well-prepared for college feel as though it is sufficiently challenging/engaging for them.
Let me first say that at the end of a 6 day, 6 college tour, I’m ready to start a consulting company advising college admissions on what makes for a good/helpful tour. For example, why do all of them show you the same double dorm room that you’ll move into as a Freshman? They all look the same. Show one of the options they have after first year to get the student excited.
We live in MA and went North first (Keene, UMaine-Orono, UMaine-Farmington), one night at home and then South (SUNY-Oneonta, SUNY-Cortland, Kutztown). A bit of what I’ll say below could easily enough be researched - or look at a map… but things that stood out. I’m looking at the “grades” on Niche by category and will list out any that I might disagree with from observation. I will admit that my views of the schools during the second leg of the trip could be colored by the greener grass and trees/flowers in bloom which the Northern schools are still a few weeks away from.
Keene State College - I think both my daughter and I came away with the thought that there was nothing an explicit turn-off but nothing really stood out as a positive either. Campus very close to town, no shuttles to amenities but just about everything should be a 5-10 minute walk. 2 year on-campus residency requirement. Steep list price but lots of semi-guaranteed merit that starts to make it financially competitive. Dorms right near academic buildings making for quick/easy commute to class. Students generally seemed happy. My sense was that it’s probably pretty quiet on weekends but for those that stick around, there’s stuff to do either on campus or in town.
UMaine-Orono - Daughter really liked this one. Lots of opportunities for lots of different things typical of a State flagship but with the more moderate size of ~8K, it’s not overwhelming. A little earthy-crunchy as you might expect in northern Maine. The academic buildings are a lot of smaller buildings, some of which on the outside look dated and in need of updating but the interiors looked well kept. Lots of outdoors activities available to the students that want to avail themselves of it. First years can bring cars, no shortage of land/lots. Orono (10K pop) is next to Bangor, ME (30K pop). While not a huge city, that area will give a student available to everything they might need and the school runs shuttles. With the size and remoteness of the school, it remains pretty active on weekends. Unless the student is into outdoor activities - and doesn’t mind the cold - there isn’t much to do outside the immediate area. I’d say the campus deserves more than a C+ (Niche), maybe B/B-. Maybe a B- instead of a B+ for Diversity though .
UMaine - Farmington - Disappointing. Really wanted to like this one. Really good education program. No real “campus”. Going from building to building you’re on a sidewalk with active vehicles and the main road through campus is a road very busy with tractor-trailers going to/from Canada (apparently). VERY earthy crunchy student body - neither good or bad, just an observation. No shuttles but because you’re in the town there is fairly easy access to groceries and such. But it’s a small town (8K) and nothing but farmland for 20 miles in any direction. Not that the school has anything to do with it but the ride to there from the highway was particularly rough through small depressed towns. I will give the Admissions group high marks though as they put together a great tour/experience. I have a difference of opinion with most of the Niche grades on this one.
SUNY - Oneonta (finally found out how to pronounce it!!). Scenic/rolling hills drive into Oneonta and the campus is among the hills, the students get some exercise. Campus laid out well. Not exactly a circle but not too far to get from dorms to academics. Buildings look up to date both inside and out. It’s clear most of the campus has been built within the last 50 years or so. 2 year dorm requirement and from the mouth of the tour guide many move off campus but housing is guaranteed for 4 years and from the sounds of it, the upper class options are pretty good with suites and townhomes. The student body is ~95% NY State residents but from the small survey of our tour group most are from an hour or more away. Lots of stuff going on for the weekends and downtown Oneonta (15K pop)) is right there as well. There wasn’t much not to like with the exception of the C- Campus food grade, and observation that it might be a C but not much better. With the OOS Automatic Merit award the pricing is VERY competitive with our in-state options. I really do wonder why many more OOS kids aren’t targeting this (and Cortland).
SUNY - Cortland - Another really nice campus. Seemed more athletic focused with really nice facilities and more sport options - the tour highlighted this more than Oneonta did. Very hilly campus and laid out very long - so almost requires the shuttle to get from one end to the other. The tour started at one end of campus we walked, downhill, to the other end and took the shuttle back. The campus feels like it’s more in the city of Cortland (17K pop) than on the edge of it and from the part we drove through I would say a little rougher than Oneonta. Niche gives the campus a C+, IMO closer to a B/B+. Same as Oneonta, 2 year on-campus requirement, most students from NY State and many students come from NYC so it stays relatively active one weekends.
For both Oneonta and Cortland you’re going to likely hear a lot about how the Yankees are doing…
Kutztown University - I really don’t understand the Overall Niche grade of B- since just about every sub-grade is B to A-. Kutztown is a very small town (4K pop) surrounded by rolling hills/farmland. Pretty drive but the furthest away for us at 5+ hours. Similar to SUNY’s, 2 year on campus requirement, suites and townhouses available to upper classes and guaranteed housing all 4 years. Very nice campus. Lots of green space. Right on the edge of town so most everything would be a short walk, but according to guide most students have car on campus (Wal-Mart is a short drive). We were there on a rainy Saturday morning and the campus was semi-active at least on the residence side and students playing games of various types in different locations. Very high marks for the tour as well. If Kutztown doesn’t have what you need, you have at least a 30 minute drive to Allentown or Reading.
End Result - remove Farmington from list and keep the others.
Thank you for your review. Having been to some of these same campuses, I’d say that your reviews were spot on. I particularly share your sentiments about the two SUNY campuses being so heavily discounted that they become competitive with instate options, depending on where you live. After our visit, Oneonta went to the top of my GS’s list because he liked it so much. He eventually changed his mind and chose the closer-to-home Eastern Connecticut State option because they gave him a nice academic scholarship and because he switched his intended major from PT to nursing. Those rolling hills at Oneonta, by the way, are the northern foothills of the Catskill Mountains to the south. The 600-acre Catskill Park provide lots of opportunities for outdoor recreation for those who are into that - hiking, skiing, camping, fishing, etc. With Hartwick College down the street from SUNY, Oneonta is a real little college town.
I also thought that you did a nice job of capturing the flavor of Keene State and its proximity to town. Their discounting plan is a little more obtuse than the straightforward approach at the SUNY schools, but a STEM major in particular can get a nice price there after all of the deductions kick in. We were pleased to learn that nursing counts as STEM there.
Thanks again for posting.
Thanks - it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. With the exception of Orono all of these should be Target/Safety and will come down to an evaluation from the tours and the $$.
There’s other schools on the list as well that she’ll apply to and if the financials end up making sense we’ll pay a visit during accepted student days. Thankfully that’s a ways off as I am a little tour’d out.
Thanks to whomever suggested the SUNY’s and Kutztown. I had never even heard of Kutztown before but a hidden gem.
This is great. So helpful to see some reviews of schools for average kids on here. I wonder the same about the SUNY’s. We are in MA and I think we’ve sent one kid to a SUNY in 5 years and she was an athletic recruit. We have a few of the schools you visited on our possible list so just have a couple questions.
Any idea what the Umaine kids do on weekends? Are there greek houses or college bars? Does the school seem to put on many events?
What was the vibe at Oneonta? Was it just your typical sweats and jeans college vibe?
What was the nicest campus overall?
Yes, there are Greek houses. According to their website about 1K participate so far from the majority but enough to be prevalent. Outdoors are going to be a big component of going to any school in Maine. Maine Bound Outdoor Adventures - Maine Bound Adventure Center - University of Maine to give a flavor of the activities through the school but there’s a couple of smaller ski area’s right near the school and an hour+ away are bigger area’s. There’s a ton of hiking in that area of the state as well. There is also a theatre building that had a pretty full billboard of events (past and future). I forgot to mention in my post above as well that driving around ME I think the number of dispensaries rivals the number of gas stations. Depending on your feelings about that as a parent (and your students tendency towards such things) that could be an interesting side fact or an area of concern.
Oneonta and Corland have a 2-4% OOS student body. As one of those potential OOS students I’ve voiced to D26 that she is going to need to be comfortable with the idea that everyone she’s in school with comes from some area of NY. They may have racial or gender diversity but there is close to little diversity of geography. Yes, I know upstate is quite different from NYC.
Vibe at Oneonta, Corland and Kutztown were all pretty similar - sweats/jeans/t-shirt/sweatshirt was the general attire with most kids wearing something that was school branded. All the students seemed generally happy.
This is colored by the green grass and flowers in bloom and most area’s recently being mulched but I’d rank Kutztown as #1 with Oneonta a close second. I’m a sucker for green space and don’t mind a little walking between buildings. Kutztown is also a very easy walk to the street/area with restaurants & bars. It has a mix of some older buildings (founded 1866) but they seem to be well kept and are mostly administration buildings. Oneonta has the added benefit though of a larger town with more options next to it and outdoorsy skiing and hiking are relatively close.
Thanks so much for sharing your impressions; they were so incredibly informative! But six tours in six days definitely sounds like its time for a break! Regardless, it seems as though your D will have some awesome options to choose between when it comes time to decide where to enroll.
It’d be terrific if you wanted to share your thoughts about these schools on this other thread so that your impressions can be more widely seen:
No interest in Lesley or Endicott?
Endicott & Lesley are on the list but VERY unlikely to make $$ sense.
Even with some help/merit from the school they’re likely to be in the mid-$40’s and the other options are going to be $15K-$20K less than that.
Not saying she won’t apply and see what comes back from them. Daughter is also looking for something more rural than urban and my sense is that even if Lesley came back financially viable, Cambridge wouldn’t be looked on favorably.
There is plenty to do at UMaine… it’s a medium-large university. The town is pretty small/ dominated by the campus, but Orono has all your basic needs- restaurants/bars/coffee shop etc. Bangor is 10/15 minutes away and has plenty more shopping/dining options. It’s a small city and has an international airport which is HUGE. Not many rural college areas can access a real airport that easily. Outdoor activities are available and a must, and you have to be tolerant of winter because … it’s Maine. My D22 is a junior; she does club lax and it’s awesome… lots of her friends are in sororities/frats, and lots are not in Greek life. D1 Sports are obviously big. On weekends kids get outside, go to Bangor, day trip to the coast like Bar Harbor or Portland, etc. Hope that helps!! 
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A bit lengthy but since there’s a bunch of schools here that we don’t often hear about on CC, figured it’s worth the extra words and if anyone has specific questions feel free to ask in the thread or privately.
Thanks to everyone that contributed to the thread above. Some schools were completely unknown to us and wouldn’t applied to without the suggestion. There were too many colleges that might have met criteria so some of the applications might feel random and “why that one and not the other one”. D26 also changed her direction slightly to Elementary Education, wanting to focus on teaching a slightly older group of students.
Financials are an estimated 4 year cost (4% inflation). I did this to help normalize out those higher cost schools that might give big merit since the cost of the total program would go up a % but the merit does not change.
All applications were EA (or in some cases the school is rolling). We didn’t sent SAT scores to any school that didn’t require them, which might have been only one or two.
Easy scratches based on Financials
University of New Hampshire – Didn’t Tour - $204K
Stonehill College – Didn’t Tour - $165K
Susquehanna - Didn’t Tour - $165K
University of Rhode Island – Didn’t Tour - $185K
UMass Amherst – Toured pre-application - (Waitlisted, did not accept) - $160K (this would have been an interesting fly in the ointment had she been accepted.
Scratches based on a combination of better fit and financials
Eastern Connecticut – Toured pre-application - $117K. Liked the school, didn’t love it – a little on the smaller side than preferred and campus felt fairly compressed (lack of green space, etc)
Framingham State University – Toured pre-application - $120K. Too close to home for D26, only really applied since it’s my alma-mater and they DO have a fantastic education program. Wish I could have convinced her…
Keene State College – Toured pre-application - $140K. Would have been a good fit but for $20K over many of the other options didn’t make sense.
SUNY Cortland – Toured pre-application - $126K. A good option but also got into SUNY Oneonta (see below) and between the two this was the scratch.
Westfield State University – Toured post acceptance - $103K. I was pleasantly surprised since it had been 30+ years since I’d stepped foot on this campus. A little smaller than D26 was looking for. Did a very good accepted student program.
Kutztown University – Toured pre-application and did accepted student day – $117K. D26 and mom did accepted student day back to back for Kutztown and SUNY Oneonta and they came back saying between the 2, SUNY took it. I toured it pre-application with D26 over a year ago. It’s a school I had never heard of but what a hidden gem. A bit rural right outside the campus but would have been happy to send my kid here.
In the running until the end…
Plymouth State University – Accepted student day - $102K – cheapest option. They did a really good accepted student day event and although I had driven past it 100 times, had never visited the campus. On the small side for D26, dorms a little wanting but the Education program did a good Q&A session. When pushed to start to cut down the final 4, this was the first cut.
Bridgewater State University – Toured pre-application and did accepted student day - $112K. Accepted student day was just OK – they did some information tables but no opportunity for substantial interaction with prospective program. Mom was pushing hard for this one. Only an hour away from home. I was slightly less impressed – good school but felt like she had better options.
And then there was 2
SUNY Oneonta - Toured pre-application and did accepted student day - $116K. They do several accepted students days. The one that was attended was quite poor – it was little more than a campus tour with a specific welcome statement to recognize they had been accepted. No opportunity to meet with programs, no pomp and circumstance, etc. That said, it’s a great campus and their Edu program gets high marks. Sort of a goldilocks from a size standpoint for D26 (4,500 or so).
UMaine Orono (Attending) - Toured pre-application and did accepted student day - $205K/$135K. UMaine was at the top of her list since the start otherwise this would have been a scratch on Financials. We wrote to them early on to express the financial challenge. Her AO outlined that if she changed her program to Child Development and Family Relations she would qualify for New England Regional Tuition (a sort of mid-point between In-State and OOS). She could then opt to double major into Elementary Ed. We had several conversations with a rep in the Ed department that helped get D26 comfortable with what it would entail. The AO also submitted her application for merit reconsideration and got an additional $2K. The combination of those changes got to a 4 year estimated cost of $135K – still on the higher end of some of her options but much easier to justify. BIG kudo’s to the staff at UMaine in the “willing to work with us” category! The final piece trying to close out with UMaine is food service/dietary. D26 is celiac and didn’t get a warm & fuzzy during accepted student day. Maine needs to up their game on the food services front. The solution is for D26 to have to pre-order every meal through the app with at least an hours notice. With many students moving off campus after the first year it may be something she only needs to deal with for a year but amazed that a University of 8K students doesn’t have a program to deal with dietary restrictions (not just gluten) in the cafeteria.
Thank you so much for the detailed explanations and CONGRATULATIONS 
what a great outcome 