SSHE Enrollments Down Again

[IUPNation]

Only West Chester and Millersville registered small increases but everyone else is down. Cheyney dropped almost 40 percent.

http://www2.philly.com/philly/education/cheyney-university-enrollment-plummets-state-university-20181015.html

[Fightingscot82]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

Yikes.

[Bart]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

I believe those numbers do not include graduate school enrollment. Fake news had reported Bloom had one of their largest freshmen classes.

[GoldenRam94]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

West Chester U, Cheyney Campus, here we go!

[IUPMonk]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

How does Slippery Rock manage to keep their enrollment relatively steady?

[Fightingscot82]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

Nation what's the source on that graphic?

[IUPNation]

SSHE Enrollments Down Again

Nation what's the source on that graphic?

Philly.com
http://www2.philly.com/philly/education/cheyney-university-enrollment-plummets-state-university-20181015.html

[ironmaniup]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

I believe those numbers do not include graduate school enrollment. Fake news had reported Bloom had one of their largest freshmen classes.

I think it does, From what I hear, Student retention across the campuses was a significant problem.

[IUPNation]

Yikes.

I know. How in the hell does Clarion have more students than Edinboro?

[IUPNation]

I think it does, From what I hear, Student retention across the campuses was a significant problem.

The story does point out that there is a ongoing drop in students graduating high school, especially in the Yinzerlands.

[iupgroundhog]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

It includes grad students. The IUP numbers are the same as were cited in the Indiana Gazette last week and that article broke down the grad vs. undergrad. It's important to note that the schools said to be "growing" are either shrinking but at a slower rate than the others or the rate of growth is trending downward. It's a system in trouble. The state has a taskforce to deal with this but it's not doing enough. The state needs to do a drastic reorganization, particularly with the schools in the west. They should move immediately to merge IUP and Cal, Edinboro and Clarion, and Lock Haven and Mansfield.

IUP has a capacity of 17000 and is now down to 11000. They can absorb Cal and Cal can be sold off or repurposed. Same for Mansfield. Put the Clarion/Edinboro at whichever site makes more sense.

There are other things that need to be done but I feel consolidating the western schools should be done ASAP.

[hawks16]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

IUP's enrollment topped out a few years ago. Now, I don't think it's a secret college is expensive, and the Philly-area kids who would normally come to IUP to get away from home are staying close at West Chester.

[Fightingscot82]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

It's a bad combination of declining high school students, state subsidies driving tuition into private school territory, and a lack of prestige.

Consolidation won't fix anything because you'll lose all the rural PA students who need to commute. Roughly 40% of PASSHE students commute. A lot of them work to afford school so you'd lose them making the enrollment losses worse. The system has totally bungled their value proposition. Working class PA is paying a little bit more to attend Penn State branches, private schools discounting sticker price by 50% or more, and out of state publics offering special tuition deals. All have better reputations than PASSHE.

[ironmaniup]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

It includes grad students. The IUP numbers are the same as were cited in the Indiana Gazette last week and that article broke down the grad vs. undergrad. It's important to note that the schools said to be "growing" are either shrinking but at a slower rate than the others or the rate of growth is trending downward. It's a system in trouble. The state has a taskforce to deal with this but it's not doing enough. The state needs to do a drastic reorganization, particularly with the schools in the west. They should move immediately to merge IUP and Cal, Edinboro and Clarion, and Lock Haven and Mansfield.

IUP has a capacity of 17000 and is now down to 11000. They can absorb Cal and Cal can be sold off or repurposed. Same for Mansfield. Put the Clarion/Edinboro at whichever site makes more sense.

There are other things that need to be done but I feel consolidating the western schools should be done ASAP.

Schools aren't as easily merged as the Bon Ton Store. The PASSHE CHancellor is still talking about innovating our way out of the problem -but he is going to have to downsize somehow. I doubt that IUP really has a capacity of 17000, I think that number comes from multiplying the number of faculty by an ideal faculty /student ratio. Facilities would never handle that many. The first thing the Chancellor should do is limit all these PASSHE is dying stories, since it must have an impact on enrollment next year. If they would have the guts to seriously downsize, it should include an increase of the enrollment standards, to try to improve the academic reputation a bit. Regardless of the great things our students do, highschoolers see the kid with the 750 SATs getting accepted to state schools. The kid with 1150 doesn't want to go to the same school as that guy.

[ctrabs74]

Re: SSHE Enrollments Down Again

What I'm curious about is how much of this decline can also be attributed to community colleges in the state potentially drawing prospective PASSHE students away.