PASSHE Institutions Merging

[iupgroundhog]

I'm not sure why she was chosen. I know very little about her. I was on the search committee for the Edinboro president and just Saturday was in a zoom meeting he attended. I've never felt he was anything less than honest. He was more experienced than her. Cal's president had already expressed intentions to retire before the merger, so it was between Pehrsson at Clarion and Huang at Edinboro. When Pehrsson was selected, Huang took an interview and got the job. Bigger school but same challenges.

Doesn't the designation of a system leader who is the President of one of the universities and will remain seated at that institution sort of make that campus the main campus and relegate the other campuses to effective branch campuses?

[Fightingscot82]

Question: For the other "triad" they had somehow named the beleaguered Bloom President over the dynamic LHU President to be the chief guy. Had they made a similar move naming Clarion's President to head up the western triad? Is that why the Boro Prez moved on and the Cal U Prez retired?

I'm not sure why she was chosen. I know very little about her. I was on the search committee for the Edinboro president and just Saturday was in a zoom meeting he attended. I've never felt he was anything less than honest. He was more experienced than her. Cal's president had already expressed intentions to retire before the merger, so it was between Pehrsson at Clarion and Huang at Edinboro. When Pehrsson was selected, Huang took an interview and got the job. Bigger school but same challenges.

[complaint_hopeful]

The question I have is how are they going to increase the size of the student "pie" in PA? PASSHE's demographic is HS students that live in PA. By all accounts, this number has and will continue to go down for the forseable future. Will reducting tuition by 25% at these six schools result in them getting a bigger piece of that pie? I would say yes...but will that bigger share come at the expense of other PASSHE schools or will it come from an increase in HS students that do not now go to college? The former is just moving the enrollment problem from one place to another.

Yeah...that's the point I was trying to illustrate. Will lowering the price steal enrollment from PASSHE schools. Will it be even worse? Will you get a student to go to this Triad for 75% cost that was willing to pay 100% cost at IUP?

That could happen and it would accelerate the decline.

You're points are great. If you don't get new kids going to college that wouldn't have went before, you may create a bigger problem.

Now, IF retention improves that's a big thing. Student retention rates at these schools hasn't been great. But, then again...when you share Admin services you have less staff on campuses. Will that help retention? Probably not. Will it help quality of experience? Probably not.

[complaint_hopeful]

Schools will be SHARING administrative services, which certainly seems like an easy way to reduce costs. Shrinking enrollments would suggest that the need for the current amount of administrators has declined as well...As for sports, you play for the campus you earn your degree from, just like now...

For things like Accounting, HR, I can see sharing services...but these schools have been cutting positions for years as the finances got bad. Schools have maybe 3-4 HR people. So say you cut that in half...I don't see tens of millions in savings.

And for like Admissions, Bursar, Financial Aid...schools need an on campus presence for those services as they are student facing.

Now you likely don't need 3 Presidents, 3 VP of Communication, etc. So at the upper management level there can be savings.

Sharing services will save some money, but not tens of millions of dollars a year...so the rest will have to come from faculty.

[iupgroundhog]

Presidential transition moved up. Clarion's president taking on interim duties at Edinboro. Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

Question: For the other "triad" they had somehow named the beleaguered Bloom President over the dynamic LHU President to be the chief guy. Had they made a similar move naming Clarion's President to head up the western triad? Is that why the Boro Prez moved on and the Cal U Prez retired?

[Fightingscot82]

Presidential transition moved up. Clarion's president taking on interim duties at Edinboro. Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

[boatcapt]

That's just it. They want to lower cost by 25%. Their targeted enrollment gain was 8% by like 2026 if memory serves me. I don't know if that will take them to more revenue overall or still slightly less.

There were also retention goals of like +10% in different areas.

They have quite a bit of documentation out there on the goals.

I think my big question is IF they pull off the 25% price reduction, what will that mean for other schools? Will less people go to other PASSHE schools? Will people not like the online model? Will the in person services be scaled way down to a point where students won't come? (You need a certain amount of employees to run these physical campuses.) What does it mean for sports? How will this new brand be viewed by students? Will they indeed keep their identities? If so, how do you go to 1 school and keep 3 separate identities?

The question I have is how are they going to increase the size of the student "pie" in PA? PASSHE's demographic is HS students that live in PA. By all accounts, this number has and will continue to go down for the forseable future. Will reducting tuition by 25% at these six schools result in them getting a bigger piece of that pie? I would say yes...but will that bigger share come at the expense of other PASSHE schools or will it come from an increase in HS students that do not now go to college? The former is just moving the enrollment problem from one place to another.

[WarriorVoice]

That's just it. They want to lower cost by 25%. Their targeted enrollment gain was 8% by like 2026 if memory serves me. I don't know if that will take them to more revenue overall or still slightly less.

There were also retention goals of like +10% in different areas.

They have quite a bit of documentation out there on the goals.

I think my big question is IF they pull off the 25% price reduction, what will that mean for other schools? Will less people go to other PASSHE schools? Will people not like the online model? Will the in person services be scaled way down to a point where students won't come? (You need a certain amount of employees to run these physical campuses.) What does it mean for sports? How will this new brand be viewed by students? Will they indeed keep their identities? If so, how do you go to 1 school and keep 3 separate identities?

Schools will be SHARING administrative services, which certainly seems like an easy way to reduce costs. Shrinking enrollments would suggest that the need for the current amount of administrators has declined as well...As for sports, you play for the campus you earn your degree from, just like now...

[complaint_hopeful]

Everybody is speculating. Regardless of any similar experiences in other states, the whole thing is unique and nobody knows how it turns out.

Will it conform to a Reagan Republican Laffer Curve kind of thing where you can lower costs enough to enroll even more students to the point where revenue is even greater than before at the higher cost?

After Covid is over will students flock to the online model? Or, as someone suggested, will students opt for other schools leaving the triad schools with even less?

If a course is being offered by 1 of the schools and not the others (streamlining) it will have to be an online offering. Nobody is going to physically go to the other schools for classes.

Will it become an "academic powerhouse" or will they innovate themselves out of existence?

You're right. Time will tell.

That's just it. They want to lower cost by 25%. Their targeted enrollment gain was 8% by like 2026 if memory serves me. I don't know if that will take them to more revenue overall or still slightly less.

There were also retention goals of like +10% in different areas.

They have quite a bit of documentation out there on the goals.

I think my big question is IF they pull off the 25% price reduction, what will that mean for other schools? Will less people go to other PASSHE schools? Will people not like the online model? Will the in person services be scaled way down to a point where students won't come? (You need a certain amount of employees to run these physical campuses.) What does it mean for sports? How will this new brand be viewed by students? Will they indeed keep their identities? If so, how do you go to 1 school and keep 3 separate identities?

[iupgroundhog]

My guess is that programs like English will be taught online and maybe physically at 1 campus. I don't see them offering the same classes at 3 physical locations, but I don't know.

To get to a 25% tuition reduction, you have to 1st break even, but then you have to shed a significant amount of expenses beyond that. I'd imagine that's faculty/staff. I don't see them maintaining the current level of faculty/staff and getting this reduction. Probably can't even break even that way.

We'll see. Time will tell I guess. We can see their objectives. The How is a but murky so we're speculating.

Everybody is speculating. Regardless of any similar experiences in other states, the whole thing is unique and nobody knows how it turns out.

Will it conform to a Reagan Republican Laffer Curve kind of thing where you can lower costs enough to enroll even more students to the point where revenue is even greater than before at the higher cost?

After Covid is over will students flock to the online model? Or, as someone suggested, will students opt for other schools leaving the triad schools with even less?

If a course is being offered by 1 of the schools and not the others (streamlining) it will have to be an online offering. Nobody is going to physically go to the other schools for classes.

Will it become an "academic powerhouse" or will they innovate themselves out of existence?

You're right. Time will tell.

[complaint_hopeful]

If that's the plan, they're running it into the ground on purpose. High school students don't want online and/or low frills. They want the outside the classroom just as much as the classroom.

My guess is that programs like English will be taught online and maybe physically at 1 campus. I don't see them offering the same classes at 3 physical locations, but I don't know.

To get to a 25% tuition reduction, you have to 1st break even, but then you have to shed a significant amount of expenses beyond that. I'd imagine that's faculty/staff. I don't see them maintaining the current level of faculty/staff and getting this reduction. Probably can't even break even that way.

We'll see. Time will tell I guess. We can see their objectives. The How is a but murky so we're speculating.

[Fightingscot82]

Yes - Cutting frills down to basics.

They talked about reducing campus footprint in one of those links.

If that's the plan, they're running it into the ground on purpose. High school students don't want online and/or low frills. They want the outside the classroom just as much as the classroom.

[Bart]

Edinboro president resigns. Cal president retires.

https://triblive.com/local/regional/...-merger-study/

[complaint_hopeful]

I've got to wonder about the effect this is having with current HS seniors. I don't know if my short list would include a school which might be facing merger.

I would think a certain percent wont want to. I dont know though. Tons of press out of this...both good and bad.

[jrshooter]

I've got to wonder about the effect this is having with current HS seniors. I don't know if my short list would include a school which might be facing merger.