PASSHE Institutions Merging

[Bart]

Interview with the CU president in today's Press-Enterprise: They haven't balanced the budget since the merger and workforce reduction isn't going to do it. 2026-2027 projects a 13.5 million shortfall which will deplete savings and result in 1.5 million in debt they can't pay, that includes the 4.3% tuition hike. In 2029 the debt will increase to 32 million without more help from the state. In the past, enrollment projections were overly optimistic, and the state overestimated the saving that could be achieved through consolidation. Expenses have increased with weight loss drugs now accounting for a 7 million dollar increase across SSHE. The plan is to reduce the foot print of campuses by closing or tearing down buildings. Bloom is currently demolishing Waller Administration building, and next year goes Old Science. Mansfield needs to reduce it's costs and infrastructure for long-term sustainability. CU also needs to decrease its 23 million in scholarships which is more than the 19.5 million West Chester gives out.

Rebranding the campuses as CU "is not going to happen", they will continue to use their current names. The president said Penn Western University "marketed its rebrand heavily", but CU never did and students don't identify as CU and the "campus community does not want it". "It is clear to me the legacy identities are what will continue to drive success and enrollment......It is clear to me the communities ,students, alumni and donors want to maintain a legacy identity and there is no reason for us not to......Right now I see CU as a parent company with three subsidiaries. They are one balance sheet, one budget and one set of finances......they are back-end things that don't matter to students."

No name changes on campus, few CU apparel available anywhere, and nobody yelling CU at games.

(And no I don't have a link. I still use paper products.)

[iupgroundhog]

Interview with the CU president in today's Press-Enterprise: They haven't balanced the budget since the merger and workforce reduction isn't going to do it. 2026-2027 projects a 13.5 million shortfall which will deplete savings and result in 1.5 million in debt they can't pay, that includes the 4.3% tuition hike. In 2029 the debt will increase to 32 million without more help from the state. In the past, enrollment projections were overly optimistic, and the state overestimated the saving that could be achieved through consolidation. Expenses have increased with weight loss drugs now accounting for a 7 million dollar increase across SSHE. The plan is to reduce the foot print of campuses by closing or tearing down buildings. Bloom is currently demolishing Waller Administration building, and next year goes Old Science. Mansfield needs to reduce it's costs and infrastructure for long-term sustainability. CU also needs to decrease its 23 million in scholarships which is more than the 19.5 million West Chester gives out.

Rebranding the campuses as CU "is not going to happen", they will continue to use their current names. The president said Penn Western University "marketed its rebrand heavily", but CU never did and students don't identify as CU and the "campus community does not want it". "It is clear to me the legacy identities are what will continue to drive success and enrollment......It is clear to me the communities ,students, alumni and donors want to maintain a legacy identity and there is no reason for us not to......Right now I see CU as a parent company with three subsidiaries. They are one balance sheet, one budget and one set of finances......they are back-end things that don't matter to students."

No name changes on campus, few CU apparel available anywhere, and nobody yelling CU at games.

(And no I don't have a link. I still use paper products.)

I don't see a lot of substance in that spiel. If CU is all administrative, back office functions, etc., what does it matter if the respective communities do not embrace a common identity. Did anyone expect that, anyway? This could make a strong case for the concept of continuity, because it seems as though this person doesn't have a good grasp of how things got to this point. Maybe I just don't understand because I don't see how the weight loss drugs fit in.

[Bart]

I don't see a lot of substance in that spiel. If CU is all administrative, back office functions, etc., what does it matter if the respective communities do not embrace a common identity. Did anyone expect that, anyway? This could make a strong case for the concept of continuity, because it seems as though this person doesn't have a good grasp of how things got to this point. Maybe I just don't understand because I don't see how the weight loss drugs fit in.

The weight loss drug was an example of rising costs and the need to deal with staff unions. The three union contracts guarantee 5.5 raise this year and health care costs keep going up. Jobs need to be cut instead of waiting for staff to retire or quit. All staff will need to take on additional duties, teach more classes, and non-teaching staff will have to work in other departments if the unions agree.

The common identity may have been different if it was marketed 4 years ago. Osgood said the students at Penn West adapted to their new name because it was marketed to them.

It sounded like most problems where the result of those who presided over the schools before he got there. Deficit spending and everything else. "This might be the first time we are just coming out and saying that we are not marching toward a uniform identity." There is no money for rebranding and nobody wants it.

I am just picking and choosing what I thought was interesting. I like this guy.

[iupgroundhog]

The weight loss drug was an example of rising costs and the need to deal with staff unions. The three union contracts guarantee 5.5 raise this year and health care costs keep going up. Jobs need to be cut instead of waiting for staff to retire or quit. All staff will need to take on additional duties, teach more classes, and non-teaching staff will have to work in other departments if the unions agree.

The common identity may have been different if it was marketed 4 years ago. Osgood said the students at Penn West adapted to their new name because it was marketed to them.

It sounded like most problems where the result of those who presided over the schools before he got there. Deficit spending and everything else. "This might be the first time we are just coming out and saying that we are not marching toward a uniform identity." There is no money for rebranding and nobody wants it.

I am just picking and choosing what I thought was interesting. I like this guy.

I am just thinking out loud, as well, but I don't see how a "common identity" is that important. It doesn't seem surprising because it was a major issue within CU (LHU and Bloom) that their individual identities would be maintained at the time it was formed. And they have been in general and in athletics.

The financial stuff is another matter. Who knows what the finances would look like today had CU never come into existence? Clearly, Mansfield is a dead weight on the system. Don't forget that Lock Haven and Bloomsburg did not want the merger and Mansfield did. But looking back is pointless.

[Bart]

I am just thinking out loud, as well, but I don't see how a "common identity" is that important. It doesn't seem surprising because it was a major issue within CU (LHU and Bloom) that their individual identities would be maintained at the time it was formed. And they have been in general and in athletics.

The financial stuff is another matter. Who knows what the finances would look like today had CU never come into existence? Clearly, Mansfield is a dead weight on the system. Don't forget that Lock Haven and Bloomsburg did not want the merger and Mansfield did. But looking back is pointless.

I like that in looking ahead he sees no reason to ever do away with each schools names, bookstores carry schools individual merchandise, signs continue to show individual school names, etc.
A year ago he wanted a new logo to represent one larger entity. Now he can't even find a CU shirt to wear to events, although there is one for sale in gray and white. He saw the light and no longer wants the CU name on every campus. That's a good thing.

[Fightingscot82]

It might also help if the state didn't consistently rank among the bottom feeders in aid to higher education per student. Most states use gambling funds for aid to education. In Pa., we use it to help old farts such as me. They need to develop other revenue streams, such as taxing the so-called skill games.

That's mostly because we're funding two separate competing university systems. If there was just one, and if Penn State were limited to just one four year campus, we'd be better off. Add up the total appropriated for PASSHE, Penn State, Temple, Pitt, Lincoln, Penn Vet, Thaddeus Stevens, and the community colleges, and we're in line with where others are. But if Penn State only had one true campus, that's theoretically more money for us.

[Fightingscot82]

The weight loss drug was an example of rising costs and the need to deal with staff unions. The three union contracts guarantee 5.5 raise this year and health care costs keep going up. Jobs need to be cut instead of waiting for staff to retire or quit. All staff will need to take on additional duties, teach more classes, and non-teaching staff will have to work in other departments if the unions agree.

The common identity may have been different if it was marketed 4 years ago. Osgood said the students at Penn West adapted to their new name because it was marketed to them.

It sounded like most problems where the result of those who presided over the schools before he got there. Deficit spending and everything else. "This might be the first time we are just coming out and saying that we are not marching toward a uniform identity." There is no money for rebranding and nobody wants it.

I am just picking and choosing what I thought was interesting. I like this guy.

You're right that staffing not non-personnel spending is the challenge. But there are many barriers. The union contracts have an outlined process for eliminating filled positions. The union contracts have different health insurance packages and premiums, which is unnecessary. Some pay a % of salary, others a fixed dollar amount. Coverage is good but I wouldn't say that the premiums are too low. My wife has better coverage at a fraction of the premium at a relatively small school district. Teaching load is also contract dictated, and PASSHE professors already teach more classes than many other universities. They carry a 4/4 teaching load (4 classes a semester) when most schools have 3/3. Most are located too remotely to increase the use of part-time adjunct (freelance) instructors. But I imagine PASSHE will start looking at workload of staff and administrators, which I have the perspective to say is in line. The merged schools are already requiring staff at one campus to cover their role at another campus. Remote work and alternative work arrangements that could reduce office footprint and utility usage are being removed, which doesn't help. Funds to attend a conference to gain knowledge on how to improve work or keep up on industry best practice are also pretty much gone across the board.

Most union contracts expire within the next couple years, so that should be an interesting process to observe.

[IUPNation]

That's mostly because we're funding two separate competing university systems. If there was just one, and if Penn State were limited to just one four year campus, we'd be better off. Add up the total appropriated for PASSHE, Penn State, Temple, Pitt, Lincoln, Penn Vet, Thaddeus Stevens, and the community colleges, and we're in line with where others are. But if Penn State only had one true campus, that's theoretically more money for us.

Can Harrisburg limit their funding for the Centre County Community College only to the main campus and make them find a way to pay for their branches?

[Fightingscot82]

Can Harrisburg limit their funding for the Centre County Community College only to the main campus and make them find a way to pay for their branches?

Nope it's a handout in exchange for trustees seats. Same with the others.

[Fightingscot82]

PASSHE named Dr. JD Fisher interim president of PennWest. I abhor the PennWest experiment, but I'm hopeful for several reasons:

1. He's an Edinboro grad. Bias aside, that matters because he understands the Before Times.

2. He's a second generation PASSHE employee. His dad was a professor of criminal justice at Edinboro after a renowned career as an FBI agent and successful pioneer author of true crime books.

3. He worked his way up from part-time instructor to professor to department chair, dean, and provost. Even though he's coming from the academic side and that's not the perspective I think Penn West needed, this guy has seen a lot.

[IUPNation]

PASSHE named Dr. JD Fisher interim president of PennWest. I abhor the PennWest experiment, but I'm hopeful for several reasons:

1. He's an Edinboro grad. Bias aside, that matters because he understands the Before Times.

2. He's a second generation PASSHE employee. His dad was a professor of criminal justice at Edinboro after a renowned career as an FBI agent and successful pioneer author of true crime books.

3. He worked his way up from part-time instructor to professor to department chair, dean, and provost. Even though he's coming from the academic side and that's not the perspective I think Penn West needed, this guy has seen a lot.

They need to just close Clarion and let Edinboro and Mon Valley U go back to stand alone institutions. Same with Mansfield.

Josh can put his data centers on those two campuses..

[iupgroundhog]

PASSHE named Dr. JD Fisher interim president of PennWest. I abhor the PennWest experiment, but I'm hopeful for several reasons:

1. He's an Edinboro grad. Bias aside, that matters because he understands the Before Times.

2. He's a second generation PASSHE employee. His dad was a professor of criminal justice at Edinboro after a renowned career as an FBI agent and successful pioneer author of true crime books.

3. He worked his way up from part-time instructor to professor to department chair, dean, and provost. Even though he's coming from the academic side and that's not the perspective I think Penn West needed, this guy has seen a lot.

I think the foundational issues affecting PennWest and Commonwealth override whoever is running the show in each one. I don't perceive that the University President has much freedom to change the direction of things. That authority lies in Harrisburg. The president is a middleman.

[Fightingscot82]

I think the foundational issues affecting PennWest and Commonwealth override whoever is running the show in each one. I don't perceive that the University President has much freedom to change the direction of things. That authority lies in Harrisburg. The president is a middleman.

Yes and no. He can't rescind union contracts. But he can dictate strategy and propose to to the trustees fee changes that he believes will drive enrollment. Anyone with Dean or VP in their title is at-will and can be jettisoned if they refuse to follow the president's directives, so he has some authority. Anything really big like deciding to close a campus would have to go through the PASSHE board.

This is also the guy who redesigned Penn West's academic catalog to streamline programs and had been doing some sort of administrative work at the PASSHE central office.

[iupgroundhog]

Yes and no. He can't rescind union contracts. But he can dictate strategy and propose to to the trustees fee changes that he believes will drive enrollment. Anyone with Dean or VP in their title is at-will and can be jettisoned if they refuse to follow the president's directives, so he has some authority. Anything really big like deciding to close a campus would have to go through the PASSHE board.

This is also the guy who redesigned Penn West's academic catalog to streamline programs and had been doing some sort of administrative work at the PASSHE central office.

My point is that these types of incremental changes you suggest will not have any noticeable impact on the direction of the schools. The "market forces" are the power. Administrative actions will have virtually no impact.

[Ship69]

My point is that these types of incremental changes you suggest will not have any noticeable impact on the direction of the schools. The "market forces" are the power. Administrative actions will have virtually no impact.

Yeah, we're facing declining numbers of students, probably an overabundance of colleges in Pa., increasing expenses, a state legislature that isn't the most supportive in the world, and a federal administration that has gleefully embarked on a path of hollowing out university research and crapping on public education in general. It's not going to be an easy path forward.