PASSHE Institutions Merging

[complaint_hopeful]

I don't see them consolidating locations & athletic programs. Both triads have been asked to explore adding athletic programs at each campus location, especially programs that could be added with very little scholarship component. The net tuition revenue exceeds program expenses (even scholarships in PASSHE don't count against the budget). This is why private schools have many teams.

What I do see happening is further consolidations. Whether that means contracting to 2 large directionals (Eastern PA & Western PA) or 3-5 mid-size directionals (East, Central, West) remains to be seen. IUP & West Chester have immunity - I think that only lasts so long especially if everyone's enrollment is in a freefall. The state won't fund the system to a point that the cost makes them competitive and there aren't more students to be found. Consolidation is coming everywhere - there have already been two private mergers in PA in the last few years. I think PASSHE is trying to get ahead of the curve.

Yep. And I think all schools are going to share online classes. The wheels are already atleast partially in motion for this.

That will likely mean less faculty needed across the system. They'll share lower level classes and save money that way.

Interestingly, the Triads...are actually considered 4 campuses with online being the 4th.

As far as sports, the Triads will either be the same as they are now, or I could see them balancing out. The bad sports teams will get more money. The good a little less. But, the fundraising will be separate. Coaches salaries will equalize, etc. I'm pretty sure you won't see 1 super team.

PASSHE is also going to centralize more services. ie HR will be a PASSHE service and you won't have HR on campus. Like they did with Purchasing.

[Fightingscot82]

Yep. And I think all schools are going to share online classes. The wheels are already atleast partially in motion for this.

That will likely mean less faculty needed across the system. They'll share lower level classes and save money that way.

Interestingly, the Triads...are actually considered 4 campuses with online being the 4th.

As far as sports, the Triads will either be the same as they are now, or I could see them balancing out. The bad sports teams will get more money. The good a little less. But, the fundraising will be separate. Coaches salaries will equalize, etc. I'm pretty sure you won't see 1 super team.

PASSHE is also going to centralize more services. ie HR will be a PASSHE service and you won't have HR on campus. Like they did with Purchasing.

I think you'll see some consistency in how sports are prioritized & funded. There is going to be one true athletic director at each triad. There is one athletic fundraiser for the west triad. So Edinboro and Clarion will soon know how Cal raises their money and fill any gaps they had based on what the other two are doing. But the scholarship money is always separate and won't be comingled. My donations to Edinboro athletics won't do crap for Clarion or Cal.

[complaint_hopeful]

I think you'll see some consistency in how sports are prioritized & funded. There is going to be one true athletic director at each triad. There is one athletic fundraiser for the west triad. So Edinboro and Clarion will soon know how Cal raises their money and fill any gaps they had based on what the other two are doing. But the scholarship money is always separate and won't be comingled. My donations to Edinboro athletics won't do crap for Clarion or Cal.

Yep. I think over time you'll see schools balance out. Might be years though.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Yep. I think over time you'll see schools balance out. Might be years though.

Balance out may equal dirt nap.

[ironmaniup]

Yep. And I think all schools are going to share online classes. The wheels are already atleast partially in motion for this.

That will likely mean less faculty needed across the system. They'll share lower level classes and save money that way.

Interestingly, the Triads...are actually considered 4 campuses with online being the 4th.

.

Actually they will share upper level classes. Admin hate classes with 5 students, but they have to have them for the lower enrolled majors, so they keep psych 101 but share advanced psychological measurements, and have 1 30 student class rather than 3 separate 10 student classes

[iupgroundhog]

Actually they will share upper level classes. Admin hate classes with 5 students, but they have to have them for the lower enrolled majors, so they keep psych 101 but share advanced psychological measurements, and have 1 30 student class rather than 3 separate 10 student classes

I would consider that to be a major detriment to triadism. That advanced class is where you really become qualified to do what your major says you should be able to do. Those are the most valuable, professionally qualifying classes and if your theory becomes reality the education is getting watered down and less competitive with other schools.

[iupgroundhog]

I think you'll see some consistency in how sports are prioritized & funded. There is going to be one true athletic director at each triad. There is one athletic fundraiser for the west triad. So Edinboro and Clarion will soon know how Cal raises their money and fill any gaps they had based on what the other two are doing. But the scholarship money is always separate and won't be comingled. My donations to Edinboro athletics won't do crap for Clarion or Cal.

I don't see how one AD for a 3 school triad can work. Not in any equitable manner, anyway.

Private funding for individual sports is one thing but there has to be a budget determined that uses university funds. There exists a different value system placed on each sport at each individual institution (triad member). How do you maintain that local value system.

Sports is going to be pretty messy.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I don't see how one AD for a 3 school triad can work. Not in any equitable manner, anyway.

Private funding for individual sports is one thing but there has to be a budget determined that uses university funds. There exists a different value system placed on each sport at each individual institution (triad member). How do you maintain that local value system.

Sports is going to be pretty messy.

You can't. It will be a disaster. Then death.

[ironmaniup]

I would consider that to be a major detriment to triadism. That advanced class is where you really become qualified to do what your major says you should be able to do. Those are the most valuable, professionally qualifying classes and if your theory becomes reality the education is getting watered down and less competitive with other schools.

[WarriorVoice]

I think you'll see some consistency in how sports are prioritized & funded. There is going to be one true athletic director at each triad. There is one athletic fundraiser for the west triad. So Edinboro and Clarion will soon know how Cal raises their money and fill any gaps they had based on what the other two are doing. But the scholarship money is always separate and won't be comingled. My donations to Edinboro athletics won't do crap for Clarion or Cal.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/...21082011023382

[Fightingscot82]

I don't see how one AD for a 3 school triad can work. Not in any equitable manner, anyway.

Private funding for individual sports is one thing but there has to be a budget determined that uses university funds. There exists a different value system placed on each sport at each individual institution (triad member). How do you maintain that local value system.

Sports is going to be pretty messy.

The "one AD" model is what I gather from what has been published online and what I've heard from folks at the three western triad schools. Most administrative structure is being combined. There will be one person "in charge" then physically at each campus that division/department will have a deputy who advises the person in charge. I believe its the Cal AD overseeing athletics at all three schools but each school will have a de facto AD on the ground. The local AD just won't have complete autonomy. Beyond policy consistency, I don't see how this helps or really saves money.

[Fightingscot82]

If the whole point of consolidation is to cut costs, doesn't it seem likely that athletics will also be consolidated? I know we're being told otherwise, but really? This article is already using a new name for the triads...

https://www.universityworldnews.com/...21082011023382

I think at step 0 consolidating athletics was part of the concept. But then the working groups were formed and they for the first time in ~100 years of athletics at these schools realized that nearly all programs bring in more tuition dollars than they cost to operate - and if you eliminate a program you also eliminate students and their tuition. So the exact opposite is going to happen. We're going to see some underfunded non-revenue sports at these schools (and maybe elsewhere in PASSHE if it proves successful) like golf, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, cross country & track, indoor track, tennis, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more schools exploring the addition of non-athletic competitive programs under athletics like "varsity" e-sports, equestrian, etc.

I believe all 13 PASSHE schools in the PSAC were ordered to do an ROI analysis for each program. Net tuition minus operating expenses. This is pretty common for private universities. No idea why this wasn't done sooner in PASSHE. I honestly think they never had to truly think critically about relationship between strategic expenses and revenue until it was too late.

Long story short, these mergers are about schools running out of revenue sources. Cutting athletics cuts an expense but results in a net loss of revenue. Its lose-lose.

[complaint_hopeful]

I think at step 0 consolidating athletics was part of the concept. But then the working groups were formed and they for the first time in ~100 years of athletics at these schools realized that nearly all programs bring in more tuition dollars than they cost to operate - and if you eliminate a program you also eliminate students and their tuition. So the exact opposite is going to happen. We're going to see some underfunded non-revenue sports at these schools (and maybe elsewhere in PASSHE if it proves successful) like golf, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, cross country & track, indoor track, tennis, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more schools exploring the addition of non-athletic competitive programs under athletics like "varsity" e-sports, equestrian, etc.

Long story short, these mergers are about schools running out of revenue sources. Cutting athletics cuts an expense but results in a net loss of revenue. Its lose-lose.

e-sports are indeed coming to more schools. Some already have it, but I know it's in the plans at certain ones too. Of course, schools that do e-sports right spend millions sometimes. These schools will likely buy a dozen gaming computers and call it a day.

But yes, the Triads are about some of these schools failing financially. The financial projections are pretty terrible at several schools. So it's about staying in business. This definately isn't about building powerhouse sports programs. And I think some of the leadership went into this exercise thinking that they'd actually cut sports to save money, but then when they reviewed the financials...they realized exactly what you said...that they'd lose students and lose revenue. So they then wanted to add sports that are cheaper to fund. They'll let parents and students pay so that their kid can be a college athlete.

[boatcapt]

I don't see how one AD for a 3 school triad can work. Not in any equitable manner, anyway.

Private funding for individual sports is one thing but there has to be a budget determined that uses university funds. There exists a different value system placed on each sport at each individual institution (triad member). How do you maintain that local value system.

Sports is going to be pretty messy.

If you have one AD and one athletic budget, do you really have 3 separate athletic programs? I wonder how the NCAA will view this vis a vis sports "overlap?"

[boatcapt]

Yep. And I think all schools are going to share online classes. The wheels are already atleast partially in motion for this.

That will likely mean less faculty needed across the system. They'll share lower level classes and save money that way.

Interestingly, the Triads...are actually considered 4 campuses with online being the 4th.

As far as sports, the Triads will either be the same as they are now, or I could see them balancing out. The bad sports teams will get more money. The good a little less. But, the fundraising will be separate. Coaches salaries will equalize, etc. I'm pretty sure you won't see 1 super team.

PASSHE is also going to centralize more services. ie HR will be a PASSHE service and you won't have HR on campus. Like they did with Purchasing.

Much will be decided by the NCAA but I see the triads heading down the road of a "distributed" athletic program with no duplication. One of the campuses is chosen to be the home of the football team, another houses the men's basketball, another houses the women's basketball team , etc, etc, etc. I also see each triad athletic department adding non-revenue, student "producing" sports spread out over the three schools in the same manner.

I do see the possibility of triads seeking out "alternatives" to NCAA sponsorship for certain sports that they may want to overlap in. For example, the Bloomsburg campus housing the NCAA DII football team with Mansfield housing their Sprint team and the Locke Haven campus having a football program flying the USCAA flag.