PASSHE Institutions Merging

[iupgroundhog]

A friend with good knowledge of Commonwealth's situation says that Mansfield when budgeting counted high school students as full time students when they're actually a heavily discounted & subsidized part time student taking one or two classes. A huge OOPS that someone should have known better and caught sooner.

My issue with these triad plans is that both have a clear anchor campus that is holding back the entire plan. There is no worst case scenario plan to motivate those campuses and there's no path to regaining independence for those campuses who reverse their situation. What happens is Lock Haven suddenly becomes a 5,000 student campus with a growing surplus that could once again function independently? They can't. Those budget surpluses and excess enrollment will have to keep Mansfield afloat. I once jokingly asked someone in Harrisburg that if I win Powerball if I could "buy" Edinboro's independence from Penn West. They laughed and said no, its permanent.

There are 2 possibilities if you are counting HS students taking 1 or 2 classes as FT students; fraudulent reporting or incompetence.

As far as Commonwealth, the only folks who were initially completely behind the idea were from Mansfield.

[Fightingscot82]

The way I interpret that is that Mansfield is even more dead weight than previously thought. It also sounds like an "error" that someone had to know about all along.

A friend with good knowledge of Commonwealth's situation says that Mansfield when budgeting counted high school students as full time students when they're actually a heavily discounted & subsidized part time student taking one or two classes. A huge OOPS that someone should have known better and caught sooner.

My issue with these triad plans is that both have a clear anchor campus that is holding back the entire plan. There is no worst case scenario plan to motivate those campuses and there's no path to regaining independence for those campuses who reverse their situation. What happens is Lock Haven suddenly becomes a 5,000 student campus with a growing surplus that could once again function independently? They can't. Those budget surpluses and excess enrollment will have to keep Mansfield afloat. I once jokingly asked someone in Harrisburg that if I win Powerball if I could "buy" Edinboro's independence from Penn West. They laughed and said no, its permanent.

[Ship69]

That's good news.

It is and given the amount of money they've absorbed from a cash-strapped PASSHE system they need to show improvement.

[Ship69]

Yeah PennLive is really the only place I ever see covering Harrisburg U. I think they also have a pretty high profile concert series that I sometimes see in tour listings.

I have only met one person in my career who has any affiliation with them - and it was the son of an HU professor.

Channel 27, the local ABC outlet that I usually watch, has covered them extensively at times.

[iupgroundhog]

Some of the unexpected shortfall was there all along, but hidden by an accounting error, Hanna said. At Mansfield, tuition revenue from high school students taking college classes through a dual-enrollment program was factored into budget numbers at the full-time tuition rate, not the heavily discounted part-time rate, Hanna said. "The model in place before integration at one of the campuses was used by the team."

The mistake was caught earlier this year. But once fixed, it put the college deeper in the red, Hanna said.


YIKES

The way I interpret that is that Mansfield is even more dead weight than previously thought. It also sounds like an "error" that someone had to know about all along.

[Fightingscot82]

Commonwealth school has an expected deficit of $28 million, up from the projected $10 million in Feb.. That includes 160 job vacancies that won't be filled. Staffing has dropped from 2,460 in 2017 to 1,564 now. Projections are another $16.2 million shortfall next year.

The good news Bloomsburg's dorms will be near capacity for the first time since 2017. More freshman enrolling.

Some of the unexpected shortfall was there all along, but hidden by an accounting error, Hanna said. At Mansfield, tuition revenue from high school students taking college classes through a dual-enrollment program was factored into budget numbers at the full-time tuition rate, not the heavily discounted part-time rate, Hanna said. "The model in place before integration at one of the campuses was used by the team."

The mistake was caught earlier this year. But once fixed, it put the college deeper in the red, Hanna said.


YIKES

[iupgroundhog]

I paid the $2 so you don't have to.

Thanks. I know I can count on you.

In contrast to virtually all other papers you can't even read the headlines before reaching their paywall. That's frustrated me on many occasions.

[Fightingscot82]

Positive news out of Cheyney:

https://hbcugameday.com/2024/07/02/h...ion-probation/

(Yes, I know they're not a PSAC school anymore, but they are still part of PASSHE.)

That's good news.

[ctrabs74]

Positive news out of Cheyney:

https://hbcugameday.com/2024/07/02/h...ion-probation/

(Yes, I know they're not a PSAC school anymore, but they are still part of PASSHE.)

[Bart]

Occasionally, I would really like to read something in The Press-Enterprise but it's not possible without a subscription.

I paid the $2 so you don't have to.

[iupgroundhog]

Commonwealth school has an expected deficit of $28 million, up from the projected $10 million in Feb.. That includes 160 job vacancies that won't be filled. Staffing has dropped from 2,460 in 2017 to 1,564 now. Projections are another $16.2 million shortfall next year.

The good news Bloomsburg's dorms will be near capacity for the first time since 2017. More freshman enrolling.

Occasionally, I would really like to read something in The Press-Enterprise but it's not possible without a subscription.

[Bart]

Commonwealth school has an expected deficit of $28 million, up from the projected $10 million in Feb.. That includes 160 job vacancies that won't be filled. Staffing has dropped from 2,460 in 2017 to 1,564 now. Projections are another $16.2 million shortfall next year.

The good news Bloomsburg's dorms will be near capacity for the first time since 2017. More freshman enrolling.

[Fightingscot82]

Well, they certainly haven't been under the radar in Harrisburg area media in recent years. They probably get about as much attention as any of the PASSHE schools here. At a time you don't see any coverage of Ship or Millersville sports on local media, there was so much publicity about the Harrisburg U. e-sports team a couple of years back that I was getting tired of hearing about it.

Yeah PennLive is really the only place I ever see covering Harrisburg U. I think they also have a pretty high profile concert series that I sometimes see in tour listings.

I have only met one person in my career who has any affiliation with them - and it was the son of an HU professor.

[Ship69]

Another PA private school struggling. Harrisburg University is one that often flies under the radar even in central PA.

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2024/0...niversity.html

Well, they certainly haven't been under the radar in Harrisburg area media in recent years. They probably get about as much attention as any of the PASSHE schools here. At a time you don't see any coverage of Ship or Millersville sports on local media, there was so much publicity about the Harrisburg U. e-sports team a couple of years back that I was getting tired of hearing about it.

[Fightingscot82]

Another PA private school struggling. Harrisburg University is one that often flies under the radar even in central PA.

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2024/0...niversity.html