PASSHE Institutions Merging

[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

[IUPNation]

Eat n Park said somewhere that they really don't want to expand far beyond Pittsburgh. They passed on the opportunity to buy a few other regional chains that would have put them in new places and they passed. When I worked at Robert Morris they had EnP food and it was pretty good. I did get sick of smiley cookies everywhere. But they were pretty successful in shaking down the Broadhurst family for money.

Sheetz is very particular about where they're located. They will only build at a traffic light even if their presence forces a traffic light to be installed. Plus alcohol is such a big part of stores. If they're all the way down to southern VA and northern NC they're waiting for the right location. BTW, #1 Sheetz store in the country for theft is Slippery Rock, PA.

Wawa jumped over The Yinzerlands to expand in the future to the Midwest. They are not yet ready to enter Pittsburgh but they will if Sheetz crosses the DMZ at the Chester/Montgomery/Bucks County lines.

Im not shocked gym teacher students are thieving. Those who act holier than thou tend to be guilty. :-)

Im bummed about Park N Eat but keeping it regional keeps up their quality. That’s why Wawa hoagies are not what they used to be…once they started expanding it wasn’t as good.

[Fightingscot82]

The Hoss’s in Chester County was an outlier for them. It didn’t get the business like the ones out west normally do in the end. In this part of Chester County if you don’t keep it fresh thry stop coming. It was part of a hotel so it should have been able to stay afloat.

Same thing happened with Isaacs. Remember that on Philly Street? We had one here and just never that busy.

Park N East was as close as Lancaster City but that closed.

Sheetz is a mile from the Chester County border and seems literally frightened to open in Wawa’s 5 County Turf because if they do you’ll have Wawa’s in The Yinzerlands. They are now bulking up on Sheetz’s market share in South Central PA.

Eat n Park said somewhere that they really don't want to expand far beyond Pittsburgh. They passed on the opportunity to buy a few other regional chains that would have put them in new places and they passed. When I worked at Robert Morris they had EnP food and it was pretty good. I did get sick of smiley cookies everywhere. But they were pretty successful in shaking down the Broadhurst family for money.

Sheetz is very particular about where they're located. They will only build at a traffic light even if their presence forces a traffic light to be installed. Plus alcohol is such a big part of stores. If they're all the way down to southern VA and northern NC they're waiting for the right location. BTW, #1 Sheetz store in the country for theft is Slippery Rock, PA.

[IUPNation]

The Hoss's in Indiana still does pretty well. It's pretty nostalgic ... hasn't changed a bit in 30 years. Bob's Pizza is also like that. It's like walking back in to 1987. That's the charm of it to me.

The Hoss’s in Chester County was an outlier for them. It didn’t get the business like the ones out west normally do in the end. In this part of Chester County if you don’t keep it fresh thry stop coming. It was part of a hotel so it should have been able to stay afloat.

Same thing happened with Isaacs. Remember that on Philly Street? We had one here and just never that busy.

Park N East was as close as Lancaster City but that closed.

Sheetz is a mile from the Chester County border and seems literally frightened to open in Wawa’s 5 County Turf because if they do you’ll have Wawa’s in The Yinzerlands. They are now bulking up on Sheetz’s market share in South Central PA.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Park N Eat? For realsies?

Smiley Cookies for everybody!!

I wish they would open up in SEPA.

Yinzer chains seem scared to open up in the 5 county Philly area. We had Hoss’s for about 20 years in Lionville but they petered out. It was part of the Hampton Inn right off the Turnpike.

The Hoss's in Indiana still does pretty well. It's pretty nostalgic ... hasn't changed a bit in 30 years. Bob's Pizza is also like that. It's like walking back in to 1987. That's the charm of it to me.

[IUPNation]

https://www.wesa.fm/education/2023-0...gton-jefferson

Private colleges along the I-79 corridor are exploring shared backend administrative services. A lot of them already use Eat n Park for food service. Everyone on this side of the state is struggling except those who have truly national and international reach. All of these schools are under 4,000 students and have endowments under $150 million and use 50% off tuition discounts to attract students.

Incidentally, the consultant working on the report is an Edinboro alumnus.

Park N Eat? For realsies?

Smiley Cookies for everybody!!

I wish they would open up in SEPA.

Yinzer chains seem scared to open up in the 5 county Philly area. We had Hoss’s for about 20 years in Lionville but they petered out. It was part of the Hampton Inn right off the Turnpike.

[Fightingscot82]

https://www.wesa.fm/education/2023-0...gton-jefferson

Private colleges along the I-79 corridor are exploring shared backend administrative services. A lot of them already use Eat n Park for food service. Everyone on this side of the state is struggling except those who have truly national and international reach. All of these schools are under 4,000 students and have endowments under $150 million and use 50% off tuition discounts to attract students.

Incidentally, the consultant working on the report is an Edinboro alumnus.

[Ship69]

IUP had one when I was there..I guess it’s just easier to make them go student teach in the school districts.

Ship elementary ed students are teaching in the Shippensburg School District as the lab school is part of it.

[IUPNation]

Ship is one of the only schools in the state with a lab elementary school, which they run in conjunction with the Shippensburg school district. Last I heard, education wasn't one of the top five majors, but that might have changed. If you want a teaching degree, the PASSHE schools are still as good as it gets for the cost.

IUP had one when I was there..I guess it’s just easier to make them go student teach in the school districts.

[Fightingscot82]

Ship is one of the only schools in the state with a lab elementary school, which they run in conjunction with the Shippensburg school district. Last I heard, education wasn't one of the top five majors, but that might have changed. If you want a teaching degree, the PASSHE schools are still as good as it gets for the cost.

That's great that they've made it work. Every PASSHE school had one for decades but usually they got too expensive and were cut. Ship might be the last one.

[Ship69]

14 schools plus nearly every other school. They won't market themselves aggressively. A degree from PASSHE and one from a more expensive school like Penn State or a private doesn't pay any more. There are other fields like this too like nursing. They should market as the lowest cost pathway to a job that pays the same no matter where you went.

Elementary education is still very popular, usually top 3 or top 5 at all the schools. Pretty sure business administration is the most popular systemwide. At SRU its Exercise Science (basically pre-PT), Safety Science, and Elementary Education.

Ship is one of the only schools in the state with a lab elementary school, which they run in conjunction with the Shippensburg school district. Last I heard, education wasn't one of the top five majors, but that might have changed. If you want a teaching degree, the PASSHE schools are still as good as it gets for the cost.