PASSHE Institutions Merging

[IUPNation]

Exactly. I'm not saying that's the only reason West Chester is the largest PASSHE school, but it’s a big factor. Not just region, but also exact location. West Chester is a nice suburb with great access to public transportation (can you imagine how much they would have grown if the SEPTA train still went to West Chester?). It’s a good school that serves the middle and working class folks of the west suburbs but is reputable enough to pull in kids who get wait listed or can't afford Villanova, Drexel, and Temple.

I think WCU has poached kids from this area who may have gone to other state system schools in the past to have that college experience but stayed home to save money on room and board. Indiana feels more of a college town than West Chester does…

[Fightingscot82]

Seems like you're also assuming that those people were selected solely because of WCU's size.

There is a false assumption inside and outside of PASSHE that WCU's size is largely because WCU "must be doing something right." Yes and kind of. Their location is a huge factor. WCU wouldn't have the same size if they were in suburban Erie or even suburban Pittsburgh. WCU was able to maintain its size after everyone's 2010 peak, which allowed them to keep programs.

[IUPNation]

There is a false assumption inside and outside of PASSHE that WCU's size is largely because WCU "must be doing something right." Yes and kind of. Their location is a huge factor. WCU wouldn't have the same size if they were in suburban Erie or even suburban Pittsburgh. WCU was able to maintain its size after everyone's 2010 peak, which allowed them to keep programs.

It helps too that Chester County has a lot of students who went out of state for college and
partied too much and needed a local landing spot when Mommy and Daddy forced them home.

[Fightingscot82]

Pitt announced that it will waive tuition at its branch campuses for students from households making less than $75,000. The fine print is that this is final dollar relief, meaning they waive the tuition balance (not fees, housing, meal plan) after the student's federal (Pell) grants and state (PHEAA) grants. So the actual amount they waive is much less. But they'll make out on extra students living on campus and possibly sticking around because at schools like those (and ours) running out of money is the #1 reason students don't finish. Nothing against the campuses themselves (they're all fine), their locations are tough. Johnstown's location is best of the three because its in the newer more suburban area of Johnstown while Greensburg is somewhat isolated on the edge of the town and Bradford is outside of town in a relatively rural area. Pitt also runs these as four-year outposts to increase the Pitt brand, rather than the 2-year transfer factories that Penn State's branches were built to be.

This is worth mentioning because this is a common recruiting strategy for our coaches. The ideal recruit is a good student from a poor family so the athletic aid fills the gaps after government grants and any academic scholarships. Since its available to all Pitt Johnstown students, it won't count as athletic aid and allows their coaches to stretch their scholarship dollars further.

[iupgroundhog]

I see that the IUP College of Osteopathic Medicine has received pre-accreditation. That means it's opening in about 15 months. Congratulations to the people involved. It's a good thing.

They put a lot of their eggs in this basket. Institutionally, I think they need to build on this and introduce a couple of innovative undergraduate programs to up the school's profile.

[IUPNation]

I see that the IUP College of Osteopathic Medicine has received pre-accreditation. That means it's opening in about 15 months. Congratulations to the people involved. It's a good thing.

They put a lot of their eggs in this basket. Institutionally, I think they need to build on this and introduce a couple of innovative undergraduate programs to up the school's profile.

Josh needs to step up and give more support from Harrisburg….divert money from the appropriation given to the Centre County Community College.

A pharmacist program would be good to start up….

[Fightingscot82]

That's really great news.

[Horror Child]

There is a false assumption inside and outside of PASSHE that WCU's size is largely because WCU "must be doing something right." Yes and kind of. Their location is a huge factor. WCU wouldn't have the same size if they were in suburban Erie or even suburban Pittsburgh. WCU was able to maintain its size after everyone's 2010 peak, which allowed them to keep programs.

Cheyney, East Stroudsburg and Millersville all pulled out of PASSHE Center City. Only West Chester remains there.

[Fightingscot82]

Cheyney, East Stroudsburg and Millersville all pulled out of PASSHE Center City. Only West Chester remains there.

Most universities have pulled out of the Northern Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township as well. Penn West has a government agency coordination center there but the only schools still teaching in person classes are Carlow, Penn State Behrend, and WVU. It was a good idea at the time completely trumped like most outreach centers by online classes. Its a great building in a great location just sitting there.

[IUPNation]

That's really great news.

Hopefully Harrisburg keeps it IUP only at least give us something nobody else has..since we were supposed to be a little more special than the rest since 1965 until we weren’t…

[IUPNation]

Cheyney, East Stroudsburg and Millersville all pulled out of PASSHE Center City. Only West Chester remains there.

You’d be hard pressed to find it too…

[Fightingscot82]

Lackawanna update: the merger is now official and in operation. Nothing really changes in Scranton other than Lackawanna now doing the 4 year thing. The former Peirce campus in Rittenhouse Square is now Lackawanna College - Philadelphia Campus and all online programs now fall under what they're calling the Peirce School of Online Education. Athletics will only happen at the main campus in Scranton.

Lackawanna still has open enrollment, which sounds terrible (and sometimes can be), but its not that big of a deal. You still must have a HS diploma or GED and go through the same admissions process as any other college, meaning at the very least you filled out some forms. Several PASSHE schools are 95% acceptance rate anyway and there are some MIAA schools that are open admission and they're ranked just as well as any PASSHE school. Lackawanna claims roughly 8,000 students and thinks they can get up to 11,000. I'm a bit skeptical only because that sounds an awful lot like the wishful thinking colleges had 15 years ago when we knew school populations were declining. This means Cheyney has to step up their game, too, and learn how to sell attending at their campus in BFE when someone's selling a similar program in the city.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Lackawanna update: the merger is now official and in operation. Nothing really changes in Scranton other than Lackawanna now doing the 4 year thing. The former Peirce campus in Rittenhouse Square is now Lackawanna College - Philadelphia Campus and all online programs now fall under what they're calling the Peirce School of Online Education. Athletics will only happen at the main campus in Scranton.

Lackawanna still has open enrollment, which sounds terrible (and sometimes can be), but its not that big of a deal. You still must have a HS diploma or GED and go through the same admissions process as any other college, meaning at the very least you filled out some forms. Several PASSHE schools are 95% acceptance rate anyway and there are some MIAA schools that are open admission and they're ranked just as well as any PASSHE school. Lackawanna claims roughly 8,000 students and thinks they can get up to 11,000. I'm a bit skeptical only because that sounds an awful lot like the wishful thinking colleges had 15 years ago when we knew school populations were declining. This means Cheyney has to step up their game, too, and learn how to sell attending at their campus in BFE when someone's selling a similar program in the city.

Seems most these days are 'open enrollment' so long as the check clears.

I can't fathom what an application/transcript must look like for one of our schools to actually reject.

[Ship69]

Lackawanna update: the merger is now official and in operation. Nothing really changes in Scranton other than Lackawanna now doing the 4 year thing. The former Peirce campus in Rittenhouse Square is now Lackawanna College - Philadelphia Campus and all online programs now fall under what they're calling the Peirce School of Online Education. Athletics will only happen at the main campus in Scranton.

Lackawanna still has open enrollment, which sounds terrible (and sometimes can be), but its not that big of a deal. You still must have a HS diploma or GED and go through the same admissions process as any other college, meaning at the very least you filled out some forms. Several PASSHE schools are 95% acceptance rate anyway and there are some MIAA schools that are open admission and they're ranked just as well as any PASSHE school. Lackawanna claims roughly 8,000 students and thinks they can get up to 11,000. I'm a bit skeptical only because that sounds an awful lot like the wishful thinking colleges had 15 years ago when we knew school populations were declining. This means Cheyney has to step up their game, too, and learn how to sell attending at their campus in BFE when someone's selling a similar program in the city.

I think Ship's acceptance rate is in the 80-some percent rate these days, and I'm sure most other PASSHE schools are probably about the same. They were even higher a few years back, but the current administration dialed it back some as they were seeing students who were in no way ready to do college work. Even with light admission requirements, most of the students admitted probably had better than a "B" overall average in high school. If you're on a scholarships awards committee these days (I am on a couple), you know that grade inflation is a real thing. Admissions officials at selective colleges must have some powerful algorithms to help them sort out things. My grad school, Northwestern, takes in about 2200 new undergrads a year and had more than 50,000 applications for their last class. Most of those applicants will be in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Is student number 2,200 really much better than student 3,500? Who knows? Arguing that college admissions is a pure meritocracy is ridiculous.

[Fightingscot82]

Seems most these days are 'open enrollment' so long as the check clears.

I can't fathom what an application/transcript must look like for one of our schools to actually reject.

LOL if you saw the list of how many students in say late November are not registered for the spring semester because they still owe over $1,000 from the current semester you'd spit out your RC Cola.