[PhoenixAzul]

So I graduated high school in 2003. While I was applying to schools/looking around, I of course looked at/applied to a few state schools here in PA.

Problems? Not enough merit funding. My family is/was blue collar middle class. Not a ton of money, but a modest amount, modest house, etc. All this to say, we had money to live, but not enough to pay the tab for college (especially since my brother and I are 2 years apart). I had the grades and test scores, but not a perfect 1600, not a perfect 4.0, and I wasn't "poor enough", so the tuition bill for an in-state public school was pretty hefty (wish I had kept my spreadsheet on this...). I entered college shortly before Pittsburgh Public announced the Pittsburgh Promise. Bad timing, I has it, no?

Otterbein, being private and out of state (and seeking to improve recruitment of out-of-state urban students) offered me enough merit aid to make my 4 years there significantly less expensive than an in-state public, with smaller class sizes and, to me, the "right" facilities.

So there's the rub. The cost of these state schools used to be well within reach of a steel mill worker's child, and they were that balance of close enough/in the area of home to attract those students. But now with tuition up so high, and merit scholarships harder to get, those students are sometimes finding better deals at private colleges in and out of the state.

I do think that these schools are important- they attract a lot of first-in-the-family college students, and they can offer a great education, and serve communities - as employers and educational institutions - that really need them. But 33 is right on, you can't just keep building without checking the reality of enrollment and tuition costs.