Joe - We have a ukulele group at our retirement community, which Dick and I inherited after the woman running it did not want to do that any more. She encouraged the soprano size, but now most of the group are playing concert size (why isn't it called alto?). There are many decent ukes for around $60 on ebay. I have an Oscar Schmidt. Kala/Malaka seem to be okay. Lanikai and Cordoba are also decent. I don't trust the $30-$45 ukes. The concert size sticks out of my backpack, but I do generally carry it that way to also tote music and a music stand.

I have lots of music set up for ukulele with simple chords, mostly not folk since we are trying to get maximum sing along from the 80 to 105 year old set in the medical wing. I can send you a list of what we have.