“Directional university” means a public university named for a direction like your examples NAU and WWU (but not necessarily when the direction is part of the state name, like University of North Dakota).
Some use it more generally to include any less selective non-flagship public university, usually catering more toward local or regional students, since some states do not name such universities by direction.
I’ll be spending time on the B student class of 2020 thread too. My son wants an engineering program and wants to be “where it gets cold” (he is California born and raised and has no idea what it means to live in real cold). He will have a 3.2 at the end of this year and if all goes well as 29 on his ACT. Engineering seems to be the hardest program to get into and to stay in. UGH!!! He has ADHD and depression that is managed with medicine and therapy. He is a good kid with lots of issues to over-come. He has made big strides in the past year but still has a ways to go. We have addressed the idea of taking a gap year and have talked about staying closer to home but all of it is a no go. He wants a traditional four year experience. I look forward to being part of this conversation.
Re: #61
He can probably find engineering in cold places that are not that expensive (WUE if you live in California) or selective in public universities in Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, etc…
But he needs to step up his academic work habits to succeed in engineering in any college.
Have your son look into the engineering program at Iowa State. That is where the B students from my kids’ high school go to study engineering (we are in Illinois). I have heard LOTS of great things about the program. And your son will definitely get his cold weather there :).
My youngest is a sophomore in high school and has social anxiety disorder and depression. I think his stats will be similar to your sons a year from now. Best of luck to your son and I hope he continues to make big strides!
My DD’19 is going to a directional U. We looked at several of them because they are more affordable, offered good merit for her stats, and they had her major where most other schools did not. One we visited felt a lot like a community/commuter college but others definitely had the college atmosphere she was looking for.
We specifically like the one she chose because it is a nice size (5000 students), walkable nice looking campus, good reputation in our area, easy to travel to and from, pleasing colors, good sports, has a Chick-fil-A, will probably accept all DE credits, books and a laptop are free, and her interactions with professors so far have been fantastic. She is an A student but not a super high ACT, AP class overachiever type. It was good enough to get in their top auto merit bracket though. Her COA on campus is about $15,800, and I calculate off-campus COA will be about $11,000.
At a couple other directional schools, her 27 ACT would have gotten her full tuition but the travel would have been a hassle.
@crossfitmama , I sent you a pm
@crossfitmama , my son is a freshman in Electrical Engineering at Iowa State and we are from California. He has similar stats to your son and he has ADHD. He loves his school and the weather !
Happy to hear there are B kids that were accepted to and are doing well in engineering programs. I have a son (also ADHD) who’s interested in civil engineering. We’re looking at mostly northeastern schools.
@crossfitmama Look into Montana State University. Very out-of-state friendly, and can be generous with FA for students with good stats. Good engineering programs and good support services for kids with issues, academic or otherwise. Bozeman is a fun little college town, there’s great skiing, hiking, and beer drinking near by. And yes, it gets cold. 
On my original post, I mentioned the superman students. Well, I give you Example number one:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2132704-effects-of-an-a-minus.html#latest
Wow. I am impressed with this but yet sad that kids are worried about an A minus. I got nothing…
Whoever this kid is would be mortified by my daughter’s current C minus in Algebra 2. LOL!!!
Just heard from a good friend that I haven’t talked to in a few weeks… She informed me that her daughter, a phenomenal student with the excellent grades and the excellent SAT scores did NOT get accepted to the UC schools she applied to. And I’m not even talking about Berkeley or UCLA. Santa Cruz rejected this incredible girl as did San Diego. I don’t get it. Sigh. It’s a crazy scene out here in California. Those schools for the B students are looking better and better! I didn’t realize just how difficult the UCs are for admission.
In the early 80s and late 70s when we were dollying UCLA accepted 82 percent or so of its applicants. It’s just really changed. Ivy League schools were in the 30 and 40 percent range.
So we come to this with our preconceived and embedded recollections of the process and it is quite stunning.
My S was a B student and my D was a B+ student, so not everyone here is an A student trying to get into all the Ivies and taking 12 APs. There are lots of great schools for B students!
@AgouraLiz Definitely look at WUE! Lots of great WUE schools out West!
Some are:
NAU in Flagstaff, AZ: Both my kids applied and got in. WUE makes this school very affordable. Great location for outdoorsy kids
Western Washington in Bellingham, WA: My S applied and got in and again WUE makes this school affordable. Close to Canada too!
Colorado State in Fort Collins, CO: Both my kids applied and got in. WUE makes it affordable, but requirements for WUE are a bit more stringent. Another great place for outdoorsy kids!
University of Idaho in Moscow, ID: Friends son goes there and loves it. Girl in S’s class just signed on to play a sport there. Getting more popular with kids from California. Part of WUE. Another great place for Outdoorsy kids!
Western State University in Gunnison, CO: My nephew applied and got in and came very close to attending. Great small school for outdoorsy kids, just added a CS program. Part of WUE and again, wonderful place for those who love the great outdoors! I have heard nothing but good things about this school. Someone on a CC thread said this school has a record of meeting kids where they’re at and moving them forward.
Southern Oregon University in Ashland, OR: I wish my S had considered this school since it would be perfect for him. Small public school in a wonderful area. Ashland is home to a Shakespeare Festival. Everything I’ve heard about this school seems great. Definitely a hidden gem worth looking at! And it’s WUE!
I’ve heard good things about Boise State. It seems to be getting more and more popular. Other schools worth checking out are University of Nevada-Reno, University of Wyoming, University of Montana, Montana State.
@AgouraLiz we are also in California with S20 being an average student (his GPA is decent at 3.6 but his first SAT and ACT tests were not great - retaking SAT in August after a Kaplan prep course at his school in July).
The only UC he is looking at is Merced and then otherwise, mostly Cal State schools plus University of Nevada-Reno, Arizona State, Northern Arizona University, and Oregon State. As mentioned above, some of these are more affordable with the WUE.
I got into UCSD back in 1984 with a 3.4 GPA (it is so crazy these days)!
There was an article that I read a few years ago in the New York times or some newspaper about how more kids from NYC and the surrounding areas are applying and attending University of North Dakota…It was an interesting story. I’ll have to try and find it online…
*that said, I don’t remember exactly where I read the article…
@thedreamydaisy My sister’s friend went to UC Berkeley back in the day with a high school GPA in the B to B+ range, she said she wouldn’t even bother applying to Berkeley if she was in high school nowadays…amazing how much it has changed. So many alums of UCLA and Berkeley from my age group, say there is no way they’d get in now!
Actually the article about more kids going to college North Dakota was in the Wall Street Journal. I found it but it’s behind a paywall 
@crossfitmama - I’m in MN and my son is interested in Chem Eng. There are a lot of cold weather, don’t need awesome stats schools for engineering around here. University of Minnesota Duluth and University of Wisconsin Plateville are two he’s interested in. Really loves Duluth. I wish Iowa State was an option, but we can’t afford the out of state tuition. We’ll probably still apply and see what they offer, but I don’t think it will be much, if anything.
I’m also going to go back and read some of the threads suggested on here. My son does pretty well in school and with the testing, but all the intense competition is foreign to me…and frankly meaningless as we’re not applying to anything more competitive than U of M - Twin Cities and if he doesn’t get in there, oh well. It’s not his first choice school anyhow.
Correction to a previous post. I said UCLA acceptance rate was 82 percent in the 80s. A kind poster sent me a correction that it was actually 74 percent early in the decade and there was a different process in selecting a uc back then.
And it wasn’t any knock on a powerhouse like UCLA or the ivies which also had higher rates back then.
It was only a directional tidbit of info to help current parents and students frame a sense of how things have changed as they embark on their search next year. If you think schools like UCLA are anything like it was when we applied, it’s not.