Newish to PA - can any one explain the PA State college system and also answer a few questions. (Philadelphia: credit, student loan)

[sheena12]

I am newish to PA. Formerly from NY so I know SUNY well. There are several levels of puplic higher education in NY Flagship Universities, 4 year colleges, agricultural and technical colleges, (4 and 2 year) and community colleges. Easy to understand, but perhaps that's because I'm used to it.

PA ( and California) seem to have something different.

In PA there is Penn State and a bunch of satellight schools also called "Penn State" which is confusing enough.

Then there are the "University of Pensylvanias" e.g. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, East Stoudesburg University of Pennsylvania, Millersville University of Pennsylvania etc,

What is the difference between these two? Is there a historical difference? I know that the main campus of Penn State is well known and pretty compeyitive.

Is Penn State better than the University of Pennsylvanias? How are they different? The satellight campuses seem like feeder schools to the main campus. They don't offer much. The curriculum seems similar to the liberal arts tranfer programs at community colleges.

Out of the U of PAs which are the most selective? Which are the least?
Why the disparity in tuition?

[North Beach Person]

Penn State is a state university. The various Penn States you see are branch campuses. Pitt, state related, has the same system.

The state universities you see used to be called state colleges (except for Indiana) and are part of the PA state university system. Years ago their focus was on teacher training: IE, Clarion State Teachers College, Slippery Rock State Teachers College, etc. They changed their titles to just plain College around 1970 and then to University around 1976.

Temple is another state related university, those are kind of hybrids of private and state.

The state universities have no ties to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, considered an Ivy League school.

[toobusytoday]

I also found it confusing Sheena, probably even more so then you since I grew up in Delaware which has about five colleges!

I think North Beach has explained it pretty well. PSU and Pitt have main campuses and branch campuses. Temple, Lincoln, Pitt and PSU are semi-supported by the state, which is why their prices are still fairly high. They are usually referred to as "state-related Universities" The majority of students that attend PSU start at a branch campuses and a few of them are quite large. This site gives the stats for all 20 of those colleges - Penn State Common Data Set And this link - Penn State Undergraduate Admissions has a nice summary of the campuses.

The State Universities - Kutztown, West Chester, etc. Welcome to the PA State System of Higher Education have a much higher amount of state support and are much more affordable. Surprisingly, none of our colleges give any edge to state residents for admission.

Acceptance-wise, Pitt and PSU are harder to get into then the rest of the colleges including Temple and individual majors can also make a difference in acceptance. That is, getting into the school of engineering at PSU is going to be harder then getting in as an undeclared student. I love these two sites for quick comparisons in facts - CollegeData: College Search, Financial Aid, College Application, College Scholarship, Student Loan, FAFSA Info, Common Application and College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics

Each of the State U's - Kutztown-West Chester-Ship, etc have their own feel, flavor and chance of acceptance. For instance West Chester is a very popular choice because of it's location. You've probably noticed that most of these colleges are pretty far from any city. West Chester University of Pennsylvania, OTOH, is in a sweet suburban town that is in easy driving distance to Philadelphia. The town of West Chester is itself a great place to live.

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

The state universities you see used to be called state colleges (except for Indiana) and are part of the PA state university system. Years ago their focus was on teacher training: IE, Clarion State Teachers College, Slippery Rock State Teachers College, etc. They changed their titles to just plain College around 1970 and then to University around 1976.

Not much to add to what the OP have provided. IUP went from Indiana Normal School to State Teachers College at Indiana to Indiana State College and in 1965 became Indiana University of PA. The other state schools went through a similar transition a few years later. IUP has always been the largest of the state schools and used to have the strongest academic reputation. California used to be near the bottom academically but seems to have improved substantially. There is a lot of competition among the state schools in the western part of the state for students because of the declining population of available students. Millersville has one of the strongest academic reputations of these schools but you really have to look at the reputation of the individual department. For example, IUP has always been strong in criminology and safety science.

Regarding Penn State and the branch campuses, there is a huge difference between University Park and the branches. There is also a big difference among the branches. University Park is very selective and very expensive. Altoona and Erie (Behrend) are the two largest branches and are four year schools. Anyone looking at any branch campus should look at the potential for transferring to the main campus. Penn State and Pitt are not one big school with multiple campuses. Just because you have gone to a branch for two years, they might not accept you at the main campus or they might not transfer all of your credits.

The state schools are considerably cheaper than Pitt or Penn State. The Pitt branch campuses are a little cheaper than Oakland but considerably more expensive than the state schools.

[sheena12]

The State Schools are considerably less expensive than Penn State. With the exception of Penn State University Park, the offerings at the branch campuses are "slim pickins".

My son is interested in Art, and he is applying to several private colleges. Since we moved to PA rather recently, he wants to stay close to home and friends, but he still wants to "go away" i.e. live in a dorm. He was looking for a few safety schools in PA, which is where he wants to be, and the guidance counselor recommended Millersville, for it's strong Art program. It does look very good, equivalent to the programs at some private college.

Does any one know of some other colleges within the state system that also have good Fine Art programs? He isn't interested in graphic design or digital art.

He is interested in Glass, Metal, mixed media, drawing, painting and ceramics. Also 3-D Art.

He just needs some affordable safety schools, in the event that his financial aid packages at the private schools are not sufficient.

Thanks in advance for any advice! It is confusing because there are two different groups of State Colleges, and while many of them seem quite good, they are not well known outside of Pennsylvania, and there is no single publication, on line or other, that compares them all, the way the SUNY schools are advertised.

[PeeAye Native]

In addition to the two above mentioned designations, "state-related Universities", and the "State System of Higher Education", it's useful to know that Penn State is the "land-grant institution" in Pennsylvania. Each state has one "land-grant institution", and there's a long history behind these.

A land grant school will have an extensive research program in agricultural sciences, will offer degree programs in those areas, (degrees such as dairy science, food science, soil science, etc.), will be closely tied to or directly run the 'cooperative extension service' for the state, and in general will have a close working relationship with the agriculture industry in the state.

In NYS, Cornell, even though it's an Ivy, is the land grant institution, and it does has the mission of leading the agricultural research for NYS.

[PeeAye Native]

No one directly mentioned this point about the PSU branch campuses in the above posts. One of the things the branch campuses offered was, and still is, a means to do the first two years at a reduced cost. As a student you live at home and commute to the local branch campus, you take all the common core classes that every other student in every major in the system takes (math, english, phys ed., etc.), and it's in a less stressful, less competitive environment. You transfer and do the final two years at the main campus, taking the upper-level classes specific to your major. If you choose not to transfer or continue on, you will have typically earned an associate degree.

BTW, any guidance counselor should (better) be able to explain all these points. If not, your school district is shortchanging you. At one point in time, there was a rule that if your children were attending a private school, you as the parent got full use of the guidance counselor at the public school in your district. Don't know if that is now a thing of the past.

[maf763]

Temple's Tyler School of Art has a great program. It will be cheaper than a private uni but I wouldn't think of it as a safety school.

[villageidiot1]

First a disclaimer, I know very little about art. I have heard that Temple has one of the top art programs at least in PA. As far as other state schools, IUP has always had a very strong art program, which is fairly competitive for admission.

[LibraGirl123]

Originally Posted by sheena12

Does any one know of some other colleges within the state system that also have good Fine Art programs? He isn't interested in graphic design or digital art.

I've heard good things about the art programs at Kutztown University (of Pennsylvania).

Welcome to Kutztown University -- college of visual and performing arts, college of education, college of liberal arts and sciences, college of business, office of graduate studies