Forgive me, but one last comment: your kid needs to grow up. Her belief that certain schools are beneath her is absurd. She would be a superstar at any state school. The main goal should be limiting debt. My suggestion would be to have her go to your closest state university and commute if necessary. Lastly, it is vitally important that she choose a major where they will be job opportunity in the future. That means healthcare or tech.
“Directional school” is sometimes used to refer to non-flagship state universities, usually catering to students in their local areas. In some states, some of them are named directionally, such as Eastern Michigan University, University of South Alabama, Northern Arizona University, and Western Washington University.
In Pennsylvania, the rough equivalent would be the PASSHE schools.
Some (not all) non-flagship state universities were originally specialized for training K-12 teachers.
West Chester’s net price calculator is at http://www.passhe.edu/answers/Calculator/WE/npcalc-216764.htm . Approximate net prices (PA resident, family of 3, 1 in college):
- Commuter, maximum FA: $6k
- Commuter, no FA: $16k
- Dorm, maximum FA: $17k
- Dorm, no FA: $27k
However, commuter numbers do not include any amount for live-at-home costs (e.g. food and utilities consumed by the student). Some other colleges do estimate these as a few thousand dollars.
I’m going to take exception with the term “teacher factory”. Many of the smaller public universities in some states were former teachers colleges. These schools concentrated on higher education to train future educators. Over the years, they have evolved into full universities offering a full range of majors. In many cases, these colleges are less costly than the main state public flagship university.
Frankly, there is nothing wrong with these colleges. Nothing.
The reason some are called “directional schools” is because they had directions in their names. In CT, for example, we have Western CT State University, Eastern CT State University, Southern CT State University and Central CT State University. In Illinois, there is Southern Illinois, Western Illinois, Northern Illinois…you get the idea. Some states have colleges that have been renamed…this happened in NJ. The former “teachers colleges” have new names…Rowan, The College of New Jersey…and others.
Anyway…my point is…these schools can and do provide a fine college education and an accessible one for many students. Your daughter won’t be the only smart and motivated student to attend. There are others, who for some reasons, who can’t afford a more expensive option. Many of these schools also have commuter students, as well as students who study at night while working during the day.
Another option to save money is to attend a community college within commuting distance and take all the general education courses there. Your $11,000 or so would likely cover the costs for tuition fees and books…and commuting costs. Then transfer to a four year school to complete the bachelors degree. Again…many smart people have to choose this option to save money…and that is not a bad thing.
I don’t know what state you are in…but start looking in your own state. See what it has to offer…see what aid is available. Look at the costs realistically.
If your out of pocket is $11,000 or so, your student needs more than a full tuition scholarship.
And again I say…contact one or two colleges and ask their process for a special circumstances consideration. If there is a significant income reduction with no likelihood of a new job…a divorce and therefore one income gone…and disability…these are things the colleges might consider. You need to ask.
If your former husband is not living with you when you file your financial aid application forms, you will NOT list him on the FAFSA at all.
OP is a resident of Pennsylvania, according to post #0.
What was her junior PSAT score?
The original definition of directional universities came from the the fact that a number of state universities that were not the main university for their state would use directional prefixes in their names, like Northern Arizona university, EastCarolina University, University of Northern Colorado. These were state schools that tended to serve their region heavily and often did not have as stringent admissions requirements as the main(flagship) school.
Directional Universities and colleges also often had preprofessional programs like Teachers college or Agriculture programs. They more often than not, do not have a direction in their names these days.
I think in PA, you have the 3 main State universities, Pitt in Oakland , Penn State in University Park and Temple in Philly. Both Pitt and PSU have satellite or you can call them directional campuses. Then you have the smaller colleges like Clarion, Edinboro, Slippery Rock, WestChester, Millersville, Lockport ,Indiana, California, Kutztown, etc etc.
In CA, many call the California STATE Universities directional, with the UCs being the main universities.
Just as with private schools, some are more selective and do have more kids with higher test scores, grades, rigor ranges, usually the directional schools are less selective. Just as some k-12 school districts have better number than others. How some private k-12 schools also.
However, study after study has shown that those students who are accepted to more selective schools with the higher average stats and stats ranges, do just as well when they go to less selective schools. Also , these days, with so many PhD academians, getting qualified professors at universities is not an issue.
I think it’s clear that most folks will choose HPY, the schools with the greater name recognition and reputations, the highly selective schools , the ones with the kids with higher stats…all things equal with some exceptions. Most of the highest ranked schools tend to be private or some state flagships .
That does not make these preferred schools the best choices all of the time. Certainly not the best deals when paying for them can cause hardships in other parts of life. College is not the be all to end all. Just as it could be a financial and stressful life decision to choose an unaffordable house because of features you so adore, choosing a school for its luster when the cost means all kinds of hardships is not a wise decision.
Both CA and PA have a “flagship” system (UC in CA, CSHE in PA) and a system with a more local emphasis (CSU in CA, PASSHE in PA) that can be seen as the equivalent of “directional” schools in other states. However, an important difference is that CA uses its low cost community colleges for transfer preparation to both UCs and CSUs, but two of the CSHE schools (Penn State and Pittsburgh) have their own system of (more expensive than community colleges) branch campuses for transfer preparation. In addition, some majors like engineering majors are more widely available at CSU than PASSHE schools. Due to differences in in-state cost and financial aid policies, CA is on the lower end of states with respect to student loan debt per graduate, while PA is on the higher end.
You may want to check out SUNY Albany. I know a student who received a full cost of attendance merit scholarship (not FA - this family is very high income) and the website says that OOS scholarships are available. It’s another school that is worth investigating.
What is “FA”-federal aid?
Does it matter? I would have to check.
FA is financial aid
Check York College in PA. She might get sufficient merit aid to attend there.
Look at the “Colleges that Change Lives” list. Some of those might be affordable as well…maybe. You will need to check each college for their available scholarships.
Some OOS schools give full tuition plus to national merit finalists.
@mommdc did I miss something? Is the OPs daughter a NMF…or potential NMF?
Well, I asked for the junior PSAT score, with a 1450 SAT it’s possible that the PSAT score was high enough for semifinalist.
I think they are notified in early September?
her PSAT was 1360. Lower than semifinalist.
Berea College - full tuition scholarship to every student.
https://www.berea.edu/
But they have restrictions on eligibility.
"We’ve developed this simple online form to help your family estimate your likelihood of meeting Berea College’s financial eligibility requirements. "
https://www.berea.edu/admissions/quick-estimator/
“Also, if your family has encountered special circumstances (divorce, death of wage earner, etc.) your financial eligibility should be considered on an individual basis. If you have any questions or are experiencing technical difficulties, please contact us during business hours at 1-800-326-5948.”
@Anitka , if spend an evening going through posts, you’ll see quite a few families in the same situation.
For those students who are from very low income families, it is possible to get full ride to the most selective schools in this country if they are able to gain admissions. Looking at the numbers of such full rides, it doesn’t happen all that often because those so challenged rarely apply to these schools as they are often not prepared to do so.
Other levels of financial aid are available that assume some degree of savings and a large % of income in increasing amounts as the income increases. Family crises, situations often don’t fit neatly into the formula, so it’s often still not enough aid. The schools ‘ formulas determine how much family must pay, not the family. If a student has parents who refuse to pay or give out their financial information, no financial aid is available.
You’ll see many situations where a family can manage $20-30-40-50-60k a year, maybe, and these days the tab can be past the $80k mark. It can be undoable to go to these schools if they do not give a sufficient aid package. Many offer very little or zero merit money. The old “she’s so smart, she’ll get a full scholarship to Harvard” story is a myth. Harvard doesn’t give out scholarships unless there is demonstrated need.
As for merit awards, the big ones are difficult to get. My son got generous offers from Temple and Alabama automatically. Now Temple has stopped— you have to be assessed and there is no guarantee, and Alabama has scaled back the awards. He also was awarded a half cost scholarship from Tulane , but as staggering as that dollar amount was , $37k, I believe, it still left another $37k to pay! More, really, if parental visits, and other extras that often come into the picture are included, like taking your student and friends out for dinner, buying campus gear,a new computer, etc. We were not frugal about those things, I admit
A full tuition award still came up to $18k room and board plus other expenses at another school where the transportation for any of us was not a cost issue. NY has very expensive room and board numbers, and you don’t do much better going off campus in upper class years as kids always seem to want to do because housing is so expensive. Upstate, much better—student rent can be cheap in Buffalo. Same as in your current state—Pitt has quite the college community in Oakland, at costs far lower than what the university charges for room and board.
Where it stands right now for your daughter is that if your family situation isn’t going to yield a lot of financial aid, she needs to find schools where she is at the top of the student body in statistics, and that the schools are have the money to pay for such students.
There is much opportunity at such schools, and top students often will be shut out st the highly selective schools for the same. I went to a ceremony at our local college, whose name hardly ever shows up here for a young woman who was being recognized as an honored alum. She was a Rhodes Scholar—something she says there was no way she would have achieved st Cornell U from which she transferred. She was able to star in crew, get marvelous opportunities, and was happy there. Her community, her world. I’ve known many many successful alumni from that school, and it would categorized with directional schools.
Carrying tremendous debt to pay for college has become an enormous problem in this country. If there is no clear path to repay college, loans they should be kept to a minimum. Ones retirement should not be threatened by student debt. The series of loans we took out, and repaid were very painful, and we could afford them by every measure. And they would have been far more due to interest and even more painful to repay now, had we delayed the payment as we were so tempted to do.
I suggest finding a number of possibly affordable option, hopefully at least one affordable one. Your daughter is entering adulthood soon and it’s time she understands the financial situation she and YOU are facing. In light of that, she understand that cost us a huge issue in her college choices and become proactive in finding affordable options and amenable to going to a school within the budget.
One of our kids went to community college for two years and then transferred to our public flagship. I am aware this is a distasteful option for some.
It worked out great for us. Affordable for both student and parents. Kid got involved in Student Government at the CC and was a big fish in a small pond.
It also raised her awareness & concern re: students struggling to get an Associate’s Degree. You know, slowly chipping away at school plus working two jobs, maybe having a baby of their own, etc. It was eye-opening for her, in a good way. Part of her job in SGA was looking at student retention & graduation rates, and brainstorming ways for the school to improve both.
Anyways, a mentor of hers said, “Your degree is going is say University of ==State==”, NOT “2 years at CC, then 2 years at U of ==State==”, remember that.
Her professors at graduation were gushing to us about her, and none of them knew she was a transfer from a CC. We mentioned it, and the professors seemed genuinely surprised.
She is successfully launched, and working on The Hill in DC & staying in touch with her alumni network. It’s where she wanted to land, and it’s been two years now. She is very happy.
There are many paths!
Don’t worry, they’re not.
Sure there were some schools that were “teachers colleges”…some used to be all-female schools. But it’s not true that non-flagships were all “teachers colleges”.
Many, most directional schools have long been places for students to major in engineering, computer science, nursing, business, accounting, education, communications, psychology, etc.