PASSHE Institutions Merging

[IUPbigINDIANS]

How about basketball?

Amazingly, it doesn't work out very often. Perhaps this year. It's been 7-8 years now.

[Bart]

You won't see IUP vs West Liberty on a football field any time soon.

How about basketball?

[Fightingscot82]

Cal's football program ran that model under Angelo. It worked for a bit.

They even had the state employee provide them with legal representation!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Could put fences around unused dorms and set-up minimum security prisons. Hire some locals as guards and give inmates day passes to attend courses on-campus. I'm sure the PA gov would pay 100% of the tuition. Seems like a win-win for the school and the local community!!

Cal's football program ran that model under Angelo. It worked for a bit.

[Fightingscot82]

Could put fences around unused dorms and set-up minimum security prisons. Hire some locals as guards and give inmates day passes to attend courses on-campus. I'm sure the PA gov would pay 100% of the tuition. Seems like a win-win for the school and the local community!!

About 10 miles south of Edinboro in Cambridge Springs was a private college called Alliance College. They were fairly niche - specialized in Polish heritage. They closed in the 80s and the state bought the property and turned it into a minimum security women's prison, SCI-Cambridge Springs.

1,000 inmates. 300 employees. $40,000 per inmate for MINIMUM SECURITY.

Edinboro when it was independent, 4,500 students. 500 employees. $16,000 per student.

[WarriorVoice]

So, I had a chance to see some of the 'merging" on Saturday at Bloomsburg. Staff members from the 3 eastern schools that merged are collaborating with each other to cover athletic events.

[Fightingscot82]

Cost to run PASSHE (state appropriation plus mandatory tuition/fees): ~$16,000 per student

Cost to run Department of Corrections (all state appropriation): ~$60,000 per inmate

[only1]

Show me the money!!!

https://www.passhe.edu/News/Pages/Re...Lp0kEZtAGN_f7E

[Fightingscot82]

I kinda knew that you or somebody would say it's not unique. Of course, it's not unique. I would say, though, the magnitude of it is unique to the geographic footprint. This and other initiatives change the focus of the schools. It expands beyond the academic focus and into all of the other areas I mentioned. The entire region is a constituency.

Also, it's interesting to look at all of the 20 school districts named because it starts to cannibalize on IUP's and Clarion's territory.

I would also add that I don't think it's marketing spin. Sure, it's publicity. But the plan is real, nuts and bolts stuff. It's profit-oriented and it's enrollment-oriented.

What I do think is unique is a dedicated person (at least in title) to dual enrollment. I think that's good in theory but with enrollment & fundraising, numbers don't lie, so we'll know if its working.

[iupgroundhog]

While this is good, and I hate to be this guy, but this isn't unique. This article feasts on some marketing spin. Schools public and private have been doing this for a decade. "Dual Enrollment" has put AP exams on their deathbed. Same goes for transfer agreements with community colleges. The challenge in the Western group is that there are so many players already involved in this game within their footprint and districts choose the university provider, not the student. When I worked at RMU a coworker made extra money teaching a communications class for Hopewell high school kids on Saturdays. BUT...this is good for the local districts and families in this article. A lot of students are entering college with many college credits. Unfortunately the research so far shows no correlation with those high school students attending the schools where they got the dual enrollment credit or college students graduating any earlier (and saving money).

Also, some other merger news. Both schools were given a "special master" to aid the management of the mergers since both the presidents and the chancellor aren't equipped to handle the necessary bandwidth. Western is getting the West Chester provost and Commonwealth is getting a PASSHE attorney.

I kinda knew that you or somebody would say it's not unique. Of course, it's not unique. I would say, though, the magnitude of it is unique to the geographic footprint. This and other initiatives change the focus of the schools. It expands beyond the academic focus and into all of the other areas I mentioned. The entire region is a constituency.

Also, it's interesting to look at all of the 20 school districts named because it starts to cannibalize on IUP's and Clarion's territory.

I would also add that I don't think it's marketing spin. Sure, it's publicity. But the plan is real, nuts and bolts stuff. It's profit-oriented and it's enrollment-oriented.

[Fightingscot82]

The article below illustrates the focus on regional integration and economic development that is the goal of Commonwealth University. I think it's a good model. It ensures a greater likelihood of success and brings other interests into the fold, e.g. communities, residents, industry, government.

I just don't see that potential in PennWest, partly due to the lack of geographic continuity and partly because of the nature of the local economies. Not to mention, it's not a stated goal of the western group.

https://www.lockhaven.com/news/local...st-enrollment/

While this is good, and I hate to be this guy, but this isn't unique. This article feasts on some marketing spin. Schools public and private have been doing this for a decade. "Dual Enrollment" has put AP exams on their deathbed. Same goes for transfer agreements with community colleges. The challenge in the Western group is that there are so many players already involved in this game within their footprint and districts choose the university provider, not the student. When I worked at RMU a coworker made extra money teaching a communications class for Hopewell high school kids on Saturdays. BUT...this is good for the local districts and families in this article. A lot of students are entering college with many college credits. Unfortunately the research so far shows no correlation with those high school students attending the schools where they got the dual enrollment credit or college students graduating any earlier (and saving money).

Also, some other merger news. Both schools were given a "special master" to aid the management of the mergers since both the presidents and the chancellor aren't equipped to handle the necessary bandwidth. Western is getting the West Chester provost and Commonwealth is getting a PASSHE attorney.

[iupgroundhog]

The article below illustrates the focus on regional integration and economic development that is the goal of Commonwealth University. I think it's a good model. It ensures a greater likelihood of success and brings other interests into the fold, e.g. communities, residents, industry, government.

I just don't see that potential in PennWest, partly due to the lack of geographic continuity and partly because of the nature of the local economies. Not to mention, it's not a stated goal of the western group.

https://www.lockhaven.com/news/local...st-enrollment/

[Fightingscot82]

We have a good handle on the enrollment decline at PASSHE schools, question is have staff layoffs/position eliminations kept pace. Is there a definitive source that shows academic/administrative/support staff declines since the PASSHE enrollment zenith?

To be honest, I can't find anything that talks specific numbers. But the answer is yes and no but its also not that easy to do. There have been reductions in under enrolled degree programs and offices that use a caseload staffing model have been reduced. But the state allowed most positions in PASSHE to be union making it harder to reduce workforce as quickly as one might want. But there are some redundancies - like athletics. A lot of full-time assistant coaching positions have been reduced to part-time. Another is in student services - a lot of positions are just needed regardless of how many students you have. So while FTE staffing has been reduced the headcount may not seem that way. One of the problems with the mergers is that they learned AFTER everything was enacted that a lot of job functions still need to get done whether you're a 4,000 student school or 12,000 student school, so there is some redundancy but its not always a 2/3 staffing reduction.

[boatcapt]

There have been years of cutting almost everywhere but Slippery Rock and West Chester. As mentioned, vacant positions frozen or eliminated, programs slashed, majors eliminated. The problem is that enrollment just keeps dropping and the cuts keep coming.

If you're talking about closing a university, that has to happen from the General Assembly. I don't see that happening. Everyone talks about closing a school that isn't in their vicinity.

We have a good handle on the enrollment decline at PASSHE schools, question is have staff layoffs/position eliminations kept pace. Is there a definitive source that shows academic/administrative/support staff declines since the PASSHE enrollment zenith?

[Ship69]

I bet you can't name 5 PA governors off the top of your head. That's not a challenge - just a very likely assumption. In my lifetime I can't think of a governor who was viewed as a universal failure. People definitely grew tired of Ed Rendell by the end of his second term. Tom Corbett failed his party - he was the first incumbent governor to lose re-election. He slashed funding for some key pieces - particularly PASSHE - while also spending millions in frivolous lawsuits over Obamacare and Jerry Sandusky. His inability to pass Republican policy issues (like privatizing the state stores) with a Republican legislature is baffling. Tom seems like a nice guy but unable to navigate the legislative process, something I often see getting in the way with military & attorney execs, and he was both.

To navigate the legislative process, you have to have a process. Haven't seen much of that in Harrisburg for quite a while.