Schools with very good reputation and good transfer policy?

[ss20ts]

Well, sure, but it seems like hardly anyone will have heard of TESU unless they attended or their friend attended. And UofP, yeah, people have heard of it but they would probably immediately think negative things.

I don't know exactly. A school where the professors regularly publish in top journals? A school with more research funding? A school that admits a lower percentage of applicants? Those kinds of things.

State universities have research. Maybe your friend should join so they can say more about what they have and are looking for. If the friend wants all of that and only wants to spend $400 per credit then they should look at their state university system. Also know that those 75 credits probably aren't going to go far at a state university because of the requirements they have in place. Your friend may be starting from scratch. Whereas at a school like TESU or UMPI they may be able to graduate in less than 6 months. Both schools are state universities. 

There's thousands of colleges in the US. No one has heard of the vast majority of them. Outside of the Ivies and state universities, how many do you think people have heard of? Just because someone hasn't heard of a school doesn't mean it's not a good school. I mean you're looking at schools that are all RA accredited. Names are also recognized regionally. I can't tell you the name of any schools in Texas. I can tell you the names of a bunch of schools in NY because I live in NY. I cannot tell you the name of every college in NY though. I can't even tell you the names of each of the 64 SUNY campuses. Nor does anyone care. Just because one attends a "good" school doesn't mean that they were a good student. Everyone with a 2.0 and a 4.0 gets the same diploma.