New Website to Aid Students Heading to College

Harrisburg – Looking to assist students throughout the college planning process, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) has launched a new web site that can guide them from their earliest days of high school through admission and beyond.

The new web site includes a wealth of information to assist potential students and their families in their college search and selection process. It includes a searchable directory of all academic programs offered at the 14 PASSHE universities – from associate to graduate degree – as well as information on when and how to begin preparing for college, and how to pay for it.

“PASSHE exists first and foremost for our students,” said PASSHE Vice Chancellor for External Relations Karen Ball. “Our number one shared goal is to do everything possible to help our students succeed in their careers and in their lives. Our new web site was designed with that goal in mind.”

In fact, students had a direct role in the design of the site. Two recent graduates of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania’s acclaimed Communication Design Program helped create the look and feel of the new site.

The student-oriented site also contains organizational, policy and strategic initiative information important to PASSHE employees and the general public, as well as links for potential vendors who wish to do business with the State System. It is a one-stop shop that can serve as a gateway to Pennsylvania’s public universities.

With a single click of the mouse, users of the new site can go from the newly designed home page to any of several helpful links to find out what courses they should take in high school to prepare for college and which PASSHE universities offer the programs in which they are interested. They also can quickly go to a financial aid planner, as well as to a separate page designed just for students transferring from a community college or another four-year college or university.

PASSHE universities are the lowest-cost among all four-year colleges and universities in Pennsylvania, and the total cost of attendance – tuition, fees, room and board – is below the national average for all public universities. The vast majority of their academic programs are accredited by professional organizations nationally, an important stamp of approval that benefits graduates who seek to go directly into the job market or who choose to apply to graduate school.

To visit the new PASSHE web site, go to www.passhe.edu.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, with nearly 120,000 students. The 14 PASSHE universities offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Nearly 500,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.