A high school friend of my nephew’s went to Drexel, until he got mugged on his way to class in his freshman year. He returned to Drexel the following, year, to try again. Again, he got beat up on his way to class. I don’t know what happened to him after that. He probably switched to community college.
The problem with Philadelphia is that the inmates are in charge of the asylum. Rendell had a very good chance to fix things in Philadelphia, but he had no interest in change. Rendell used the corruption to his own advantage.
There are some highly regarded colleges in Phila, and people actually want to go there because they have no idea what they're getting into. I would talk my child out of going to school in Phila.