I don’t know much about Penn State unfortunately. It wasn’t on our list, so I couldn’t make comparisons. Blacksburg is a lower cost of living area, looking around when kids move off campus, they seem to be paying about $700-800 per month (but keep in mind I’ve only briefly looked at this, my son joined a residential college at VT and will live on campus for the first 2 years).
Our list was: VT, MSU, ASU, Colorado School of Mines, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Purdue, UVA, and VCU