Match Me: CC student majoring in CS (3.697 college GPA, PA, Pell, first-gen)

Your best bet is to pick a Passhe school, because PA CCs coordinate with them. Avoid West Chester (costly housing) but all others would make for good safeties - pick 2 that seem to offer what you want. The new governor has a program which would make these very affordable (as a Pell student, you wouldn’t pay more than $2,000 per year for tuition, which would leave about $5,000 to help with housing.)

Next: Penn State Behrend and UP, Pitt. These are likely to be costly even instate, especially since taking upper level classes costs more.
Expect about 20k instate tuition, and about 10-15k for housing/food/ etc. You’d get your Pell grant, a State grants for about 5k. Behrend may offer some merit but PSU UP or Pitt won’t.

You definitely have a shot at Lafayette and Lehigh. What about Muhlenberg, Dickinson and Franklin&Marshall? Since you’re in PA, can you visit (officially, ie., contacting Admissions ahead of time etc., arranging an appointment with a professor…) Confirm they meet need for transfers. In terms of resources and alumni network, they’re better than Passhe and may end up costing the same so definitely go for it.

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