The mall and big chain stores tend to be located in the Horseheads/Big Flats area on the highway between Corning and Elmira. I'm trying to guess at the motivation for thinking about living in Elmira when Mansfield is the employment destination. Corning although smaller has a vibrant downtown
Corning's Gaffer District - Corning, New York - Shopping - Entertainment - Museums - Food and it would have been a while since Elmira would have been so accused.
Rentals have spiked up in the Mansfield area due to the gas drilling activity, and even before this started it has seemed difficult to rent a house around there. Corning has excellent schools and an easier highway drive to Mansfield than Elmira does. The Gang Mills area (Painted Post postal address) still has Corning schools and also a number of apartment complexes whose rentals might not be as much affected by the gas drilling as yet, but close to the highway for a quick drive south.
Mansfield itself has pretty good schools although it seems the Southern Tioga SD (that Mansfield is part of) is having some organizational issues. Mansfield has a 24 hour Walmart and some other stores (even a Lowe's now). For a college town it's strangely lacking in cute locally owned stores but it turns out those are actually in nearby Wellsboro
Welcome (http://www.wellsborostores.com/Wellsboro_Stores/Welcome.html - broken link) .
Wellsboro Area schools are often well regarded but they had a building binge that local taxpayers are now paying for. On top of that Wellsboro seems to have a bit of a price premium compared to surrounding communities. Some areas with a Mansfield address (Charleston Twp, around Hills Creek Lake) are in Wellsboro schools.