Public or Private

My daughter will be a senior this fall and we're trying to narrow
college choices. While I'm fairly certain that she can get some
scholarship aid from a quality school (top 20%, AP and honors courses,
but only a 1050 SAT on first try), we're considering public schools in
PA. Her main interests currently are Anthropology and History. If
she stays with those type of majors, grad school is a requirement, as
she won't get a career in those area in 4 years.

Paying 25-30 K per year is one thing, but if we're looking at possible
grad school it seems that we may want to look hard at public schools
for 13-15K.

Any comments greatly appreciated. Thanks

Take a look at the smaller solid privates in PA (there are many) as
she may be a candidate for merit aid there as well as need-based aid
if you qualify. These schools will serve her especially well if she's
interested in the humanities and future graduate study. Also, word to
the wise, don't discount any school based on sticker price--you never
know what sort of aid package you'll receive, and you can also appeal
the aid reward at many schools if it's not enough to allow her to
attend the school she really wants.

So, knowing nothing about her other than potential academic interests
(which usually change...), I'd suggest you look into the following
schools:

Juniata College (juniata.edu)
Lafayette College (lafayette.edu)
Ursinus College (ursinus.edu)
Muhlenberg College (muhlenberg.edu)
Lehigh University (lehigh.edu)
Gettysburg College (gettysburg.edu)
Chatham College (chatham.edu)
Gannon University (gannon.edu)
Villanova University (villanova.edu)
Drexel University (drexel.edu)
Chestnut Hill College (chc.edu)

This list is by no means exhaustive--just those that come easily to
mind. Also, I'd take a look at this list of schools where submitting
testing results is optional, especially if you feel her SAT results
are not indicative of her ability: http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional.

Good luck!


On Jul 29, 9:11 am, wrote:
> My daughter will be a senior this fall and we're trying to narrow
> college choices. While I'm fairly certain that she can get some
> scholarship aid from a quality school (top 20%, AP and honors courses,
> but only a 1050 SAT on first try), we're considering public schools in
> PA. Her main interests currently are Anthropology and History. If
> she stays with those type of majors, grad school is a requirement, as
> she won't get a career in those area in 4 years.
>
> Paying 25-30 K per year is one thing, but if we're looking at possible
> grad school it seems that we may want to look hard at public schools
> for 13-15K.
>
> Any comments greatly appreciated. Thanks