System Enrollment

[iupgroundhog]

It's a total disaster for the PA state system. In hindsight, they will say mistakes have been made. Sure, you have the demographic factors and trends in higher education. But the point is that PASSHE has lost in relative terms to the other entities. Yes, the PSU expansion into 4 year schools around the state was a killer. PASSHE didn't have the clout to prevent it. Maybe the #1 problem has been lack of state support for public education, including PASSHE, over the last decades. Blame this on Republicans because they are at fault there. My apologies if you are a Republican but that's the truth. The decline of support for PASSHE in Pennsylvania is obscene.

As for IUP losing 30% of its enrollment over an 8 year period, that is painful. Who is responsible for that? Nothing within the structure of PASSHE has worked in IUP's favor. I can say IUP should have placed its needs above the needs of the rest of the system; however, they seemed to be a willing participant in all this.

Few people realize that IUP built many of the programs at SRU the Pittsburgh students have been flocking to. When IUP and SRU became "sister" institutions in the 90's IUP faculty helped SRU develop these programs. That is true and it tilted the scales away from IUP. Also, in Western PA, Armenti at Cal, the crook that he was notwithstanding, raised the profile of Cal by mimicking IUP's model. So, IUP has not been the winner in Western PA. Actually, their recruitment from SEPA has been good and I think WCU's gains are attributable to other factors. It's not like students are choosing WCU over IUP.

So, if this sounds like sour grapes, it is. Losing 30% enrollment over 8 years is no joke. I sure hope they can rebound with some of their new programs.

[IUPBand8588]

This is a nationwide problem with dropping enrollment. I know someone who's child was ready to go to IUP, but received a "mountaineer" scholarship from WVU that mitigated the out of state differential in tuition so WVU was able to pick up a potential IUP student. It is sad to see what is happening to IUP and the other SSHE schools with enrollment. I have been doing a lot of campus visits with my oldest child and the SSHE schools tend to have the best residential facilities but lacking academic programs. My other alma mater- Virginia Tech - had too many students decide to come to Blacksburg and they had a housing shortage this year. This was attributed to Amazon building a facility in Alexandria and Virginia Tech committing to building a campus next to the Amazon headquarters. The SSHE schools need to innovate or they will continue to face attrition of enrollment.

[IUPNation]

Take "applications are up" with a grain of salt. High school kids now apply to 3x as many schools as they did in 2000. I saw an article that says the new average is 10 schools. The Common Application makes it easier to do this and the increase in application fee waivers lessens the burden. IUP could have 100,000 applications and still only 2,500 freshmen enroll.

I only applied to two. IUP and Millersville. Was accepted at both.

My mom said she would only pay for a state school. So....my choices were limited.

[QBWR]

There are less high school students to select attending college - and the next cliff is about 5 years away. I've seen articles that show the percentage attending college is actually up but just so many less high school students.

yup......no more families of 5 or even 3 kids. I read that the avg family size on 2018 was 2.5 people per household. With many single parent households that's, at most, 2 kids per family. As for reasons NOT to attend a 4 year (2 year schools will always have high enrollment because of cost) the cost and the draw of the lack of workers for the service/trades industry. Whats not to love about a $75-$100k per year income as an electrician, plumber etc., especially when training/schooling is (comparatively) dirt cheap. My friends son trained for 10 months (roughly $11k) to be an electrician. No student loan. He now has 2 years on the job, making $44 per hour.... 21 years old....and he'll never be unemployed.

[Ship69]

yup......no more families of 5 or even 3 kids. I read that the avg family size on 2018 was 2.5 people per household. With many single parent households that's, at most, 2 kids per family. As for reasons NOT to attend a 4 year (2 year schools will always have high enrollment because of cost) the cost and the draw of the lack of workers for the service/trades industry. Whats not to love about a $75-$100k per year income as an electrician, plumber etc., especially when training/schooling is (comparatively) dirt cheap. My friends son trained for 10 months (roughly $11k) to be an electrician. No student loan. He now has 2 years on the job, making $44 per hour.... 21 years old....and he'll never be unemployed.

I don't think we necessarily overemphasize college as much as we don't emphasize the trades enough. Vocational ed has really slipped in some areas. A former high school classmate of mine, who'd be the first to tell you he wasn't anywhere in the vicinity of a top academic student in our class, trained in electronics coming out of the Navy, started his own company, and could probably buy and sell about any 10 of the rest of us in the class. There certainly are some good options out there for kids willing to put in the hours. Military service is sometimes a good option for a kid who hasn't found a niche in life.

[Ship69]

It's a total disaster for the PA state system. In hindsight, they will say mistakes have been made. Sure, you have the demographic factors and trends in higher education. But the point is that PASSHE has lost in relative terms to the other entities. Yes, the PSU expansion into 4 year schools around the state was a killer. PASSHE didn't have the clout to prevent it. Maybe the #1 problem has been lack of state support for public education, including PASSHE, over the last decades. Blame this on Republicans because they are at fault there. My apologies if you are a Republican but that's the truth. The decline of support for PASSHE in Pennsylvania is obscene.

As for IUP losing 30% of its enrollment over an 8 year period, that is painful. Who is responsible for that? Nothing within the structure of PASSHE has worked in IUP's favor. I can say IUP should have placed its needs above the needs of the rest of the system; however, they seemed to be a willing participant in all this.

Few people realize that IUP built many of the programs at SRU the Pittsburgh students have been flocking to. When IUP and SRU became "sister" institutions in the 90's IUP faculty helped SRU develop these programs. That is true and it tilted the scales away from IUP. Also, in Western PA, Armenti at Cal, the crook that he was notwithstanding, raised the profile of Cal by mimicking IUP's model. So, IUP has not been the winner in Western PA. Actually, their recruitment from SEPA has been good and I think WCU's gains are attributable to other factors. It's not like students are choosing WCU over IUP.

So, if this sounds like sour grapes, it is. Losing 30% enrollment over 8 years is no joke. I sure hope they can rebound with some of their new programs.

[CALUPA69]

PSU is a big draw for students in general but they have 75 FB ( top 30 set) spots versus PSAC 900 spots. Slightly better coordinated recruiting and media push to coaches could have nice payout. The home office doing a coordinated E-mail to every HS coach in the Commonwealth with school and contact info could at least make players aware that they can play serious ball even if it's not in HAPPY VALLEY. The vast majority of players across the state have slim chances of any real playing time at either FBS or FCS schools. D2 at least gives them an opportunity to start for 2-3 years and get a degree that, as has been discussed, will get them jobs right along side the BLUE & WHITE.

[Ship69]

PSU is a big draw for students in general but they have 75 FB ( top 30 set) spots versus PSAC 900 spots. Slightly better coordinated recruiting and media push to coaches could have nice payout. The home office doing a coordinated E-mail to every HS coach in the Commonwealth with school and contact info could at least make players aware that they can play serious ball even if it's not in HAPPY VALLEY. The vast majority of players across the state have slim chances of any real playing time at either FBS or FCS schools. D2 at least gives them an opportunity to start for 2-3 years and get a degree that, as has been discussed, will get them jobs right along side the BLUE & WHITE.

Is your team getting much media coverage? Coverage of Ship and Millersville by Harrisburg area media is very poor.

[IUPTrackMan]

I was at a conference today for the profession I work in and it included representation from banking, healthcare, manufacturing, education, ... essentially every industry was represented. I ran into 2 IUP employees, another IUP grad and an employee of CalU.

PASSHE enrollment was a big topic when we had a chance to mingle. The people employed at the schools are obviously really concerned about enrollment and some of the tough decisions it will eventually drive. What majors will be dropped, what schools will be closed, will budget cuts make the schools even less attractive to a student demographic that appears to be more interested in attending schools like Alabama, Clemson, Kentucky.

[CALUPA69]

Is your team getting much media coverage? Coverage of Ship and Millersville by Harrisburg area media is very poor.

Decent coverage from Washington Observer Reporter and better from Mon Valley Independent. MVI staff has several alums on board. Pgh papers will drop by occasionally if story is big enough or fits into a special interest section like "Successful Women in Education"