PASSHE Institutions Merging

[Fightingscot82]

"At PennWest, a union of the former Clarion, California and Edinboro University campuses in the more sparsely populated western regions of the state, the news was more bleak: first-time enrollment dropped by over 20 percent, contributing to an 11.5 percent overall enrollment decline."

Anyone have that 20% broken down by campus or know where to find it?

No they don't report that out. Media in Pittsburgh had to do a FOIA request to get overall campus-level enrollment for this fall:

California - 2,981
Clarion - 2,034
Edinboro - 2,532
Global Online - 3,758

[SecretlySavage]

"At PennWest, a union of the former Clarion, California and Edinboro University campuses in the more sparsely populated western regions of the state, the news was more bleak: first-time enrollment dropped by over 20 percent, contributing to an 11.5 percent overall enrollment decline."

Anyone have that 20% broken down by campus or know where to find it?

[Bart]

Bart, LHU didn't need to be "fostered" in any way. They were fine on their own. They had perhaps the most effective school President in the PASSHE and they were showing positive trends. LHU is small and always has been. That is not a problem. Remember that LHU didn't want the merger, either. It's hard to say which schools benefit or are hurt by the merger into the future. It is working a lot better than PennWest, though. Also, remember that Bloom got pulled in after SRU basically told Greenstein that they didn't want to be part of the western merger. I am not sure whether Bloom is hurt by the merger or not.

Mansfield was saved by the merger.

The loss of degree programs, increased virtual classes, sharing of campus news outlets, identity issues, and more. Bloom's size makes the others look better. Bloom's number is down about -3.71% or 261 students. LHU dropped 244 students or -8.53. Mansfield dropped 480, down -26.77. Yet Bloom gets marked with an 8% drop because of the others. Bloom had a 17% increase in first year students, while Mansfield's first year students dropped 9%, but when everything is averaged under Commonwealth, it doesn't look as bad.

Not to mention Bloom's sports teams have taken a dive under Commonwealth. (funny stuff)

[iupgroundhog]

They could have split them up, and had Bloom foster LHU and ESU foster Mansfield. Bloom will go down with the ship trying to keep both afloat.

Bart, LHU didn't need to be "fostered" in any way. They were fine on their own. They had perhaps the most effective school President in the PASSHE and they were showing positive trends. LHU is small and always has been. That is not a problem. Remember that LHU didn't want the merger, either. It's hard to say which schools benefit or are hurt by the merger into the future. It is working a lot better than PennWest, though. Also, remember that Bloom got pulled in after SRU basically told Greenstein that they didn't want to be part of the western merger. I am not sure whether Bloom is hurt by the merger or not.

Mansfield was saved by the merger.

[Fightingscot82]

They could have split them up, and had Bloom foster LHU and ESU foster Mansfield. Bloom will go down with the ship trying to keep both afloat.

That's actually a pretty good idea. Unfortunately I'm not sure you could have done that in the West though.

[Bart]

They needed an anchor to help manage things correctly. Merging just Lock Haven and Mansfield doesn't change anything.

They could have split them up, and had Bloom foster LHU and ESU foster Mansfield. Bloom will go down with the ship trying to keep both afloat.

[Fightingscot82]

That's it. Bloom didn't need to merge, but their leader went along with it. Now Bloom has two anchors pulling it down.

They needed an anchor to help manage things correctly. Merging just Lock Haven and Mansfield doesn't change anything.

[Fightingscot82]

There are likely too many campuses in Pa. for a declining student population and some will likely fail. Other than possibly with Millersville, Ship being in a conglomerate makes little geographical sense, and there is zero interest on our campus in doing it. Calling 14 separate campuses PASSHE is one thing. Combining six of them into two entities called Penn West and Commonwealth is quite another.

I think looking 15-20 years ahead our physical campuses will need to downsize. The number of high school graduates just won't be able to sustain the schools. Kids like to stay within an hour of home making each physical campus important. I do see Pitt and Penn State closing some campuses first and that could help a tiny bit but not much. The future is offering one off skill and professional knowledge certificates "stackable credentials" that are valuable to working professionals. Also second career change programs for people to do a 180 or finish college decades later. Our only bargaining chip will be cost but this is a big departure from the "liberal arts degrees at a low cost for working Pennsylvania" model we've been in. It also probably means 10-12 physical campuses and 2-3 schools. It's not just Pennsylvania but other Great Lakes, northeast, and mid Atlantic states. There's no future for a rural residential college experience if it's not within an hour of a major metro.

[Fightingscot82]

They should have just merged Edinboro and Clarion and Lock Haven and Mansfield.

I don't see how that's much different than what was done.

[IUPNation]

They should have just merged Edinboro and Clarion and Lock Haven and Mansfield.

[Bart]

Tell that to Harrisburg. When they threw us all into PASSHE, they lumped us all into one entity rather than 14 individual entities under the Secretary of Education the way Thaddeus Stevens is.

The one thing keeping the Commonwealth merger going is a) Bloom was in a much better position than Cal was when the mergers happened and b) Commonwealth has had stable executive leadership. Penn West has been a revolving door before the merger and after. Commonwealth's stable leadership allows them to continue status quo until the new Commonwealth plan is final. Penn West is stuck constantly searching for the executive leadership whose job is to implement the plan.

I honestly believe one of the unspoken ideas of making West Chester legally immune to merger is that there is now one university on each side of the state with a large footprint who can absorb the rest. I think a Central conglomerate would have been good too by pulling in Ship. I'm not sure if the multi-nodal regional model is best but its definitely better than what we had or closing anyone.

That's it. Bloom didn't need to merge, but their leader went along with it. Now Bloom has two anchors pulling it down.

[Ship69]

Tell that to Harrisburg. When they threw us all into PASSHE, they lumped us all into one entity rather than 14 individual entities under the Secretary of Education the way Thaddeus Stevens is.

The one thing keeping the Commonwealth merger going is a) Bloom was in a much better position than Cal was when the mergers happened and b) Commonwealth has had stable executive leadership. Penn West has been a revolving door before the merger and after. Commonwealth's stable leadership allows them to continue status quo until the new Commonwealth plan is final. Penn West is stuck constantly searching for the executive leadership whose job is to implement the plan.

I honestly believe one of the unspoken ideas of making West Chester legally immune to merger is that there is now one university on each side of the state with a large footprint who can absorb the rest. I think a Central conglomerate would have been good too by pulling in Ship. I'm not sure if the multi-nodal regional model is best but its definitely better than what we had or closing anyone.

There are likely too many campuses in Pa. for a declining student population and some will likely fail. Other than possibly with Millersville, Ship being in a conglomerate makes little geographical sense, and there is zero interest on our campus in doing it. Calling 14 separate campuses PASSHE is one thing. Combining six of them into two entities called Penn West and Commonwealth is quite another.

[Fightingscot82]

There does need to be some sort of deadline, if there isn't at present, as to when some of the campuses need to fish or cut bait. I'm all for trying to keep the system intact, but institutions that are going belly up can't be allowed to drag the rest of PASSHE with them.

Tell that to Harrisburg. When they threw us all into PASSHE, they lumped us all into one entity rather than 14 individual entities under the Secretary of Education the way Thaddeus Stevens is.

The one thing keeping the Commonwealth merger going is a) Bloom was in a much better position than Cal was when the mergers happened and b) Commonwealth has had stable executive leadership. Penn West has been a revolving door before the merger and after. Commonwealth's stable leadership allows them to continue status quo until the new Commonwealth plan is final. Penn West is stuck constantly searching for the executive leadership whose job is to implement the plan.

I honestly believe one of the unspoken ideas of making West Chester legally immune to merger is that there is now one university on each side of the state with a large footprint who can absorb the rest. I think a Central conglomerate would have been good too by pulling in Ship. I'm not sure if the multi-nodal regional model is best but its definitely better than what we had or closing anyone.

[Ship69]

Bloom really got screwed in this deal. Some quotes from below mentions article:

"First-time enrollment at Commonwealth—which is made up of the former Lock Haven, Bloomsburg and Mansfield University campuses in the rural center and northeast of the state—rose by 11.8 percent this fall, even as total enrollment fell by a little over 8 percent. At PennWest, a union of the former Clarion, California and Edinboro University campuses in the more sparsely populated western regions of the state, the news was more bleak: first-time enrollment dropped by over 20 percent, contributing to an 11.5 percent overall enrollment decline.

“Often the consolidation efforts don’t result in a true merger: the institutions will still be largely separate, hesitant to shed their own identities. I think that’s a little bit of PASSHE’s issue,” he said.

But Greenstein said it was PennWest, not Commonwealth, that committed more aggressively to its rebranding.


This was an issue of necessity, he explained; PennWest, in more dire financial straits than Commonwealth, was more willing to commit wholeheartedly to any potential solution. Commonwealth, whose largest campus at Bloomsburg was financially stable before consolidation despite precipitous enrollment declines since 2010, is still easing into its new identity."

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/...lvania-mergers

There does need to be some sort of deadline, if there isn't at present, as to when some of the campuses need to fish or cut bait. I'm all for trying to keep the system intact, but institutions that are going belly up can't be allowed to drag the rest of PASSHE with them.

[Bart]

Bloom really got screwed in this deal. Some quotes from below mentions article:

"First-time enrollment at Commonwealth—which is made up of the former Lock Haven, Bloomsburg and Mansfield University campuses in the rural center and northeast of the state—rose by 11.8 percent this fall, even as total enrollment fell by a little over 8 percent. At PennWest, a union of the former Clarion, California and Edinboro University campuses in the more sparsely populated western regions of the state, the news was more bleak: first-time enrollment dropped by over 20 percent, contributing to an 11.5 percent overall enrollment decline.

“Often the consolidation efforts don’t result in a true merger: the institutions will still be largely separate, hesitant to shed their own identities. I think that’s a little bit of PASSHE’s issue,” he said.

But Greenstein said it was PennWest, not Commonwealth, that committed more aggressively to its rebranding.


This was an issue of necessity, he explained; PennWest, in more dire financial straits than Commonwealth, was more willing to commit wholeheartedly to any potential solution. Commonwealth, whose largest campus at Bloomsburg was financially stable before consolidation despite precipitous enrollment declines since 2010, is still easing into its new identity."

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/...lvania-mergers