PASSHE Institutions Merging

[Bart]

Bloomsburg: 7,745, down 8.19%

California: 6,512, down 5.42%

Cheyney: 642, up 2.39%

Clarion: 3,922, down 12.16%

East Stroudsburg: 5,136, down 12.08%

Edinboro: 4,043, down 6.39%

Indiana: 9,308, down 7.54%

Kutztown: 7,675, down 2.75%

Lock Haven: 2,920, down 7.68%

Mansfield: 1,803, up 0.61%

Millersville: 7,213, down 3.76%

Shippensburg: 5,668, down 7.54%

Slippery Rock: 8,424, down 5.09%

West Chester: 17,640, down 0.45%

Source: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/1...o-decades.html

Thanks. Bloom gave the same number, but that it was down 3.9% since last year.

[Fightingscot82]

Bloomsburg: 7,745, down 8.19%

California: 6,512, down 5.42%

Cheyney: 642, up 2.39%

Clarion: 3,922, down 12.16%

East Stroudsburg: 5,136, down 12.08%

Edinboro: 4,043, down 6.39%

Indiana: 9,308, down 7.54%

Kutztown: 7,675, down 2.75%

Lock Haven: 2,920, down 7.68%

Mansfield: 1,803, up 0.61%

Millersville: 7,213, down 3.76%

Shippensburg: 5,668, down 7.54%

Slippery Rock: 8,424, down 5.09%

West Chester: 17,640, down 0.45%

Source: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/1...o-decades.html

[Bart]

Well this is certainly interesting.

When will we see the entire Fall 2021 enrollment figures? I have only been able to find a few.

[Fightingscot82]

Well this is certainly interesting.

[complaint_hopeful]

The West Triad gets it's name this week. It officially is announced on the 14th.

[Bart]

Looked for enrollment numbers for Fall 2021. Found some which I think are official.

................total..... undergraduate......graduate
SRU.......8,424......6,921................ 1,503.......... down 5.1%
Kutztown 7,675.... 6,697.................. 978........... down
clarion.....3069...... 2687.................. 382........... down 14.1%
Bloom..... 7,749.... 7,072................. 677............down 3.9%

Bloom blames drop due to Covid, demographic challenges, and perceptions about merger.

[complaint_hopeful]

EXACTLY! I would also say that it is school administration that shares in the blame. Seems like particular posters want to assign all the blame for the PASSHE problems on one person from one party when the truth is that both parties and multiple governors share in the blame.

But the ultimate point is the budgets are were they are and they ain't going up dramatically (MAYBE 2-3% in a given year but I note for the last two years there has been zero increase)...Likewise, enrollment is not going to go up dramatically. (if at all). The REAL question is how does PASSHE right size itself to work within its current budget and current/projected number of students. Just my opinion, but I don't see the merger plan as sufficient to provide long or even mid term stability to the PASSHE system.

The main problems with the mergers is they cost A LOT of money to implement. And yeah the state gave PASSHE money to do that, but it's 1-time and maybe it would have been better used in other ways...

And yeah...the cost to attend the schools is too high. They're priced out of the market. That needs fixed.

[boatcapt]

And I agree with you. The cuts came have been coming since the early 80's. It's funny though that politicians cut the money they give PASSHE...and complain that tuition costs are going up.

It's really both sides as I've been maintaining. Some more dramatic than others. And some are more guilty of not fixing it than creating it.

EXACTLY! I would also say that it is school administration that shares in the blame. Seems like particular posters want to assign all the blame for the PASSHE problems on one person from one party when the truth is that both parties and multiple governors share in the blame.

But the ultimate point is the budgets are were they are and they ain't going up dramatically (MAYBE 2-3% in a given year but I note for the last two years there has been zero increase)...Likewise, enrollment is not going to go up dramatically. (if at all). The REAL question is how does PASSHE right size itself to work within its current budget and current/projected number of students. Just my opinion, but I don't see the merger plan as sufficient to provide long or even mid term stability to the PASSHE system.

[Ship69]

It is. Just find it a little disingenuous when posters (and others) blame the whole PASSHE problem on Corbitt's 7% budget cut but completely ignore a larger cut by Rendel that occurred two years prior. If you believe that the ONLY reason the PASSHE is failing is because of lack of state $'s, then it seems the blame should be shared EVENLY by Corbitt AND Rendel.

And here you are, worrying that the "blame game" isn't balanced. At this point I DON'T CARE who is to blame. The system needs help. We need our expensive state legislators to start earning their bucks and fix it. Actually passing a program that would help Pennsylvania's higher education system would be a new experience for many of them.

[boatcapt]

Below is an article about the very 2009-10 budget that BoatCaptain has going down by 10%. So, something is off with BoatCaptain's numbers. Also, complaint hopeful you can google all you want but many of us have lived through this time period. The bottom line is that Republicans trying to say they support public education is a pathetic thing. It would be like Democrats saying they have a lot of evangelical Christians.

https://www.poconorecord.com/article...NEWS/902080331

I'm using official state final budget numbers as provided on the state budget website.

[iupgroundhog]

Gov. Corbett promised "a thorough, public, and candid conversation" about the rising cost of higher education in announcing a budget that slashes state support to colleges for the second straight year.

The proposed cuts of up to 30 percent, on top of a nearly 20 percent reduction last year, are leading observers in Harrisburg and elsewhere to question whether a major shift is at hand: an effort to defund what some Republican legislators see as wasteful public universities in an era of shrinking resources.

"Do we need all these campuses?" State Sen. Jake Corman (R., Centre) asked Tuesday, promising that the Senate would examine the proliferation of satellite campuses.


Elsewhere in the article:

"One elected official recently laid out an ultimatum," the governor said in his address. "He said, 'Let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can't be a luxury. It is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.' Those were the words of President Obama in his State of the Union address last month."

Under Pa. plan, more cuts for state-system colleges (inquirer.com)

So yeah...if you raise your price, we'll cut your funding more! That's such non-sense.

Below is an article about the very 2009-10 budget that BoatCaptain has going down by 10%. So, something is off with BoatCaptain's numbers. Also, complaint hopeful you can google all you want but many of us have lived through this time period. The bottom line is that Republicans trying to say they support public education is a pathetic thing. It would be like Democrats saying they have a lot of evangelical Christians.

https://www.poconorecord.com/article...NEWS/902080331

[complaint_hopeful]

The money that came in was highly restricted (construction only)...the money Rendel cut from the PASSHE was general operating $'s. So a school could notionally build a building, but they couldn't hire the staff to work in it or even maintain it. Reference was provided previously.

And I agree with you. The cuts came have been coming since the early 80's. It's funny though that politicians cut the money they give PASSHE...and complain that tuition costs are going up.

It's really both sides as I've been maintaining. Some more dramatic than others. And some are more guilty of not fixing it than creating it.

[complaint_hopeful]

Wall Street on the Susquehanna: PASSHE Bond Scheme Bleeds Budget for Beautiful Buildings (Abbreviated) | ACADEME BLOG

[complaint_hopeful]

This was a problem that was built over some 20 years. There's definately more out there on Corbett than Rendell. I'm searching for specific Rendell items to try to be balanced.


'Wolf defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett, who upset many voters with big cuts to public schools and universities in his first budget, for 2011-12. As a result of that budget, PASSHE schools raised tuition 7.5 percent, to $6,240 for a full-time student. Tuition has risen 3 percent in each of the last three fiscal years and remains at $6,820.'

Pennsylvania higher education board reluctantly approves Gov. Tom Wolf's tuition freeze 'ultimatum' - The Morning Call (mcall.com)

[complaint_hopeful]

Gov. Corbett promised "a thorough, public, and candid conversation" about the rising cost of higher education in announcing a budget that slashes state support to colleges for the second straight year.

The proposed cuts of up to 30 percent, on top of a nearly 20 percent reduction last year, are leading observers in Harrisburg and elsewhere to question whether a major shift is at hand: an effort to defund what some Republican legislators see as wasteful public universities in an era of shrinking resources.

"Do we need all these campuses?" State Sen. Jake Corman (R., Centre) asked Tuesday, promising that the Senate would examine the proliferation of satellite campuses.


Elsewhere in the article:

"One elected official recently laid out an ultimatum," the governor said in his address. "He said, 'Let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can't be a luxury. It is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.' Those were the words of President Obama in his State of the Union address last month."

Under Pa. plan, more cuts for state-system colleges (inquirer.com)

So yeah...if you raise your price, we'll cut your funding more! That's such non-sense.