PASSHE Institutions Merging

[Bart]

"Gov. Josh Shapiro's $51.5 billion budget proposal calls for saving costs by closing two state correctional institutions and two state-run community corrections centers."

https://www.wvia.org/2025-02-04/shap...er-100-million

Someday they will close a couple of colleges.

[IUPNation]

Yes, it was Unimart. A quick google search says they went bankrupt in 2008 (shows how far behind I am). I think many of them carried on but are now closed. Apparently, Unimart was purchased by an Indian national and now only operates in India. That just seems bizarre to me.

Sheetz and Unimart weren’t that different in the 80’s.

Wawa was not that prevalent growing up in Norristown..it was mostly Delco then and there were stores here and there in Montco. There were more 7-11’s in those days.

[iupgroundhog]

Unimart?

There was one in an Exxon by me but it’s something else now.

There was a Unimart in the strip mall along Grant near Oakland when they first built it..when it had a Dennys on the upper level.

Yes, it was Unimart. A quick google search says they went bankrupt in 2008 (shows how far behind I am). I think many of them carried on but are now closed. Apparently, Unimart was purchased by an Indian national and now only operates in India. That just seems bizarre to me.

[IUPNation]

Wawa is building a store a few blocks away from the house I grew up in, just outside of Lock Haven. It's about 25 miles from State College. There was a pretty good State College-based convenience store chain for a lot of years that served the purpose but I think it's now in decline, opening the way for Wawa and Sheetz in State College and that region. Wawa will be in State College. I have no doubt about that.

Unimart?

There was one in an Exxon by me but it’s something else now.

There was a Unimart in the strip mall along Grant near Oakland when they first built it..when it had a Dennys on the upper level.

[IUPNation]

Wawa is making its big move into central Pa. now. They've opened a couple of sites in the Harrisburg metro area, and they've had one under construction not far off I-81 in Chambersburg.

Three are 3 planned for Happy Valley but no shovels
in the dirt as of yet….

[iupgroundhog]

Wawa is making its big move into central Pa. now. They've opened a couple of sites in the Harrisburg metro area, and they've had one under construction not far off I-81 in Chambersburg.

Wawa is building a store a few blocks away from the house I grew up in, just outside of Lock Haven. It's about 25 miles from State College. There was a pretty good State College-based convenience store chain for a lot of years that served the purpose but I think it's now in decline, opening the way for Wawa and Sheetz in State College and that region. Wawa will be in State College. I have no doubt about that.

[iupgroundhog]

I believe it's now just the culinary school. There may be some other classes offered but all you ever hear of with IUP and Punxy is culinary.

If you search the IUP website it says that there is a "unique freshman residential" experience at Punxsy. I think they reside there but take online classes. I don't have specifics but I remember reading about it in the alumni magazine or somewhere. The construction and/or renovation took place there while IUP main campus residences are dormant. I have to believe that Smith also has designs on expanding the Punxsy campus. My point is that this is at the expense of the main campus and the Indiana community. At this point, you probably can't just pick the culinary school up and move it to Indiana.

[TheBigCat2192]

Yep. The entire commonwealth campus system only has about 24,000 students, so I'm not sure about mergers just because nearly all are commuter students using it the same way the locals use access to PASSHE schools. Closing Penn State Berks would probably benefit Kutztown, but I don't think closing Penn State Schuykill would benefit any PASSHE school. 11 campuses have housing, but beyond Altoona and Behrend most only house about 250 students.

Closing Schyulkill won’t necessarily benefit any of the PASSHE schools but the Berks and Schuylkill campuses are only about 40 minutes apart. I used to live in Berks and work near the Schuylkill-Berks line and there were at least some “crossover” students.

[Fightingscot82]

Just looking at a map they could probably merge Harrisburg + York, Schuylkill + Berks, the triangle of southeastern schools, Allegheny + New Kengsington, and maybe the northeast trio as well and try to sell off the physical plant at the leftover campuses They’d definitely lose students who don’t want to make longer drives but I’m having a hard time being sympathetic when you consider how many they’re siphoning away from the PASSHE schools.

Yep. The entire commonwealth campus system only has about 24,000 students, so I'm not sure about mergers just because nearly all are commuter students using it the same way the locals use access to PASSHE schools. Closing Penn State Berks would probably benefit Kutztown, but I don't think closing Penn State Schuykill would benefit any PASSHE school. 11 campuses have housing, but beyond Altoona and Behrend most only house about 250 students.

[Ship69]

And Wawa still has not opened a store there as of yet…but there are 11 of them within a 15 minute radius of my building.

Wawa is making its big move into central Pa. now. They've opened a couple of sites in the Harrisburg metro area, and they've had one under construction not far off I-81 in Chambersburg.

[TheBigCat2192]

Back on subject, Penn State has already combined upper administrations for a dozen campuses through the big buyout, but that won't solve the fact that the average enrollment at the branches is barely 1,000 and about half are under 600.

Just looking at a map they could probably merge Harrisburg + York, Schuylkill + Berks, the triangle of southeastern schools, Allegheny + New Kengsington, and maybe the northeast trio as well and try to sell off the physical plant at the leftover campuses They’d definitely lose students who don’t want to make longer drives but I’m having a hard time being sympathetic when you consider how many they’re siphoning away from the PASSHE schools.

[IUPNation]

The state legislature is finally realizing that they're sending almost $250M yearly to an organization that they can't control. Guaranteed seats on the board but can't control. Not subject to the public records law - any release is purely negotiated with the university. The main campus has grown in size - but also scope in the last 25 years. Nearly every academic building has undergone a full renovation if not expansion. A dozen brand new academic buildings so large (~200,000sqft) they could probably house and educate several PASSHE campuses. The Sandusky and Tim Piazza scandals really chipped away at the Penn State firewall. The gigantic Beaver Stadium project while simultaneously slashing budgets and jobs (and possibly campuses) isn't a good look, regardless of where the money comes from.

I think the nail into Penn State's political coffin will be how they keep the University Park (main) campus in the upper echelon of rankings. Only 52% of students are from Pennsylvania at that campus. In the short time I worked there, a great majority of PA students were from greater Philly up through Allentown-Easton-Bethlehem area and it seemed like most out of state students were from northern Virginia, New Jersey, and Long Island. Yeah you get the national kids there for athletics or very highly ranked programs, but they're really overshadowed by the Wawa and Jersey Princess crowds.

Back on subject, Penn State has already combined upper administrations for a dozen campuses through the big buyout, but that won't solve the fact that the average enrollment at the branches is barely 1,000 and about half are under 600.

And Wawa still has not opened a store there as of yet…but there are 11 of them within a 15 minute radius of my building.

[Fightingscot82]

I've actually seen two articles the last couple of days (should have saved them) indicating the branch campus system is in big trouble. There actually are 19 of them now, and enrollment is down to about 28,000. Figure out how many students that makes per campus — not a heckuva lot at some of them. The publicity gods are finally starting to crap on Penn State a little as they have been for several years on PASSHE.Out system basically gets blasted for losing enrollment and having "only" 90,000 students on fewer sites than the Penn State branch campuses. Might be a different picture without the PSU branches siphoning off 28,000 students who would be naturals for PASSHE.

Enrollment at the Penn State main campus has risen to about 48,000. Critics note that the branch campuses are more diverse and have a good deal higher percentage of Pa. students than the main campus. Branch campus students are about 77 percent from Pa., while about half the main campus students are from out of state. The school loves the higher tuitions out-of-state students bring, but some not that does not seem to fit into the mission of a land grant school that claims to be the state university.

The state legislature is finally realizing that they're sending almost $250M yearly to an organization that they can't control. Guaranteed seats on the board but can't control. Not subject to the public records law - any release is purely negotiated with the university. The main campus has grown in size - but also scope in the last 25 years. Nearly every academic building has undergone a full renovation if not expansion. A dozen brand new academic buildings so large (~200,000sqft) they could probably house and educate several PASSHE campuses. The Sandusky and Tim Piazza scandals really chipped away at the Penn State firewall. The gigantic Beaver Stadium project while simultaneously slashing budgets and jobs (and possibly campuses) isn't a good look, regardless of where the money comes from.

I think the nail into Penn State's political coffin will be how they keep the University Park (main) campus in the upper echelon of rankings. Only 52% of students are from Pennsylvania at that campus. In the short time I worked there, a great majority of PA students were from greater Philly up through Allentown-Easton-Bethlehem area and it seemed like most out of state students were from northern Virginia, New Jersey, and Long Island. Yeah you get the national kids there for athletics or very highly ranked programs, but they're really overshadowed by the Wawa and Jersey Princess crowds.

Back on subject, Penn State has already combined upper administrations for a dozen campuses through the big buyout, but that won't solve the fact that the average enrollment at the branches is barely 1,000 and about half are under 600.

[Ship69]

Yet, meanwhile, State Penn still keeps 20-30 branch campuses, even though most of those seem redundant (hello, Fayette, McKeesport, New Ken, Beaver) because ... They Are ... Penn State.

Seriously, you'd think someone in Harrisburg would read the room...

I've actually seen two articles the last couple of days (should have saved them) indicating the branch campus system is in big trouble. There actually are 19 of them now, and enrollment is down to about 28,000. Figure out how many students that makes per campus — not a heckuva lot at some of them. The publicity gods are finally starting to crap on Penn State a little as they have been for several years on PASSHE. Our system basically gets blasted for losing enrollment and having "only" 90,000 students on fewer sites than the Penn State branch campuses. Might be a different picture without the PSU branches siphoning off 28,000 students who would be naturals for PASSHE.

Enrollment at the Penn State main campus has risen to about 48,000. Critics note that the branch campuses are more diverse and have a good deal higher percentage of Pa. students than the main campus. Branch campus students are about 77 percent from Pa., while about half the main campus students are from out of state. The school loves the higher tuitions out-of-state students bring, but some not that does not seem to fit into the mission of a land grant school that claims to be the state university.

[IUPNation]

I believe it's now just the culinary school. There may be some other classes offered but all you ever hear of with IUP and Punxy is culinary.

Which is still odd. The culinary school would be better on main campus.