Johnston, the first branch of PETA, was founded in the 1920s, but PETA was still a private school. In the 1960s, PETA was rescued by the state government because of financial difficulties, so it became a vague "state-related" (nominally a public school, but the school affairs were handled by its own independent board of directors, and 80% of the funds were donated by private individuals and enterprises). Its other three branches were established after this. These branches are located in the suburbs and seem to be mainly aimed at residents in the state. Serving the western part of Pennsylvania should be an initiative of Pida (one of its self-positioning is "regional partner", which was put forward after the 1960 s). However, the huge funds and special status determine that it can't use resources and funds to develop branches like SUNY and UC, so the positioning of these branches is quite embarrassing. If you pay attention to the information on the websites of these schools, you will find that they offer few courses, degrees and teachers. And the degree certificate issued also says: University of Pittsburgh at Johnston, ... in Bradford. The only advantage … is that it is more convenient to change our major.
An example of a similar branch school that is not as good as our school/main campus is the University of Pennsylvania (College Park only). U Michigan (ann arbor) public university ranks in the top three, but other branches are not famous; It is really rare that all branches in UC system are so NB. However, there are also schools like California State University, and the schools and branches are not very prominent.
Generally speaking, the branch school of Pida is far less than our school, which is a bit tasteless; But if it is a community school, it is not. Because of the above historical reasons, the status is really embarrassing.