PASSHE Institutions Merging

[Fightingscot82]

So they would save even more by cutting them.

An example for you:

Football costs $600,000 on salaries and operations. How much tuition is 100 students at $15k a piece?Tell me where the bottom line improves.

[boatcapt]

Cheyney sponsored only a few sports when they did…the Triad schools have far more.

So they would save even more by cutting them.

[IUPNation]

Same reason Cheney did.

Cheyney sponsored only a few sports when they did…the Triad schools have far more.

[boatcapt]

Why would they cut them when the money is all fund raised?

Same reason Cheney did.

[IUPNation]

Hummm...A proven pathway to recovery? For some reason, the PASSHE seems unwilling to cut athletics at any of the other State Schools to help with their solvency problems. Here's a question for people in the know, have any athletic scholarships been cut at the struggling schools?

Why would they cut them when the money is all fund raised?

[boatcapt]

Yep. There was a lot of bad going on behind the scenes. For having 95% of operations covered by Freedom of Information Act, there is some really piss poor oversight of details by local Councils of Trustees and the PASSHE Board of Governors. Cheyney especially had terrible management. There was the lack of oversight with university purchasing cards (people buying millions in personal items on university dollars) and abuse of mileage & per diem rates for travel (people claiming per diem when meals were covered or mileage unnecessary). Then there was the federal financial aid fiasco that they weren't monitoring that the money was spent and returned properly. Then the bottom fell out on enrollment and they didn't know how to fix it. They balanced the budget by cutting almost all sports and outsourcing several functions to West Chester.

Hummm...A proven pathway to recovery? For some reason, the PASSHE seems unwilling to cut athletics at any of the other State Schools to help with their solvency problems. Here's a question for people in the know, have any athletic scholarships been cut at the struggling schools?

[Fightingscot82]

Cheyney might be in better shape now, but it took a helluva lot of money and fiddling around to get them there.

Yep. There was a lot of bad going on behind the scenes. For having 95% of operations covered by Freedom of Information Act, there is some really piss poor oversight of details by local Councils of Trustees and the PASSHE Board of Governors. Cheyney especially had terrible management. There was the lack of oversight with university purchasing cards (people buying millions in personal items on university dollars) and abuse of mileage & per diem rates for travel (people claiming per diem when meals were covered or mileage unnecessary). Then there was the federal financial aid fiasco that they weren't monitoring that the money was spent and returned properly. Then the bottom fell out on enrollment and they didn't know how to fix it. They balanced the budget by cutting almost all sports and outsourcing several functions to West Chester.

[Ship69]

Ok, gotta find more students. Thanks. (I'm just being cynical)

Current enrollment at Ship looks to be up slightly from the same time last year. They likely will beat their PASSHE-designated enrollment goal by more than 100 students.

[Ship69]

Cheyney is operating in the black. Most of that is because they get back end functions handled by West Chester. In fact, Cheyney has experienced a 13% enrollment growth in the last two years. Yes, they were a mess, but when you're hemorrhaging students (i.e. source of 70% of your revenue) in this system they take the easy way (eliminating functions to cut costs) instead of the hard way (figuring out how to improve enrollment/revenue).

The future is adults. A lot of working adults only need a skills certificate for a position or career change, not an entire other degree. The Google certificates are a nod in that direction. The other HUGE population is the 20+ million adults with college credits but no degree. The students that dropped out, failed out, kicked out, or just changed their minds. Degree completion programs and programs designed for working adults who are making a major career change but need an actual degree will be essential as the number of high school students continues to decline. Colleges should be the credential industry leaders. They can't move as quickly as Google or LinkedIn nor do they have the disposable and movable cash to start something like this.

Cheyney might be in better shape now, but it took a helluva lot of money and fiddling around to get them there.

[Fightingscot82]

Ok, gotta find more students. Thanks. (I'm just being cynical)

I mentioned it in another post - they've gotta adjust a lot to recruit adult students. Interestingly, while the number of high school students is declining rapidly, the number of working age adults is relatively stable.

[iupgroundhog]

Slippery Rock is the only healthy school in the west. They're still down from pre-covid enrollment but are up this year and were over capacity in the halls plus over $60M in the "bank."

Cheyney, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, and Millersville are showing some good signs. West Chester is down enrollment-wise but is otherwise pretty healthy. Last I saw they had over $200M in reserves.

Everyone else is in bad shape. I'm really waiting to see the October report on enrollment. 70% of revenue is student-derived. A state increase might help one year but can't be counted on. A ton of union contracts are still in negotiation and they aren't going for 2% raises. Gotta find more students.

Ok, gotta find more students. Thanks. (I'm just being cynical)

[Fightingscot82]

Conclusions? Recommendations?

Slippery Rock is the only healthy school in the west. They're still down from pre-covid enrollment but are up this year and were over capacity in the halls plus over $60M in the "bank."

Cheyney, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, and Millersville are showing some good signs. West Chester is down enrollment-wise but is otherwise pretty healthy. Last I saw they had over $200M in reserves.

Everyone else is in bad shape. I'm really waiting to see the October report on enrollment. 70% of revenue is student-derived. A state increase might help one year but can't be counted on. A ton of union contracts are still in negotiation and they aren't going for 2% raises. Gotta find more students.

[iupgroundhog]

Since it came up, I'll share some quasi-public metrics on the PASSHE schools.

Positive Average Full Time Equivalency Enrollment (Two Year Average): Cheyney

Positive Adjusted Annual Operating Margin at least 2% (Three Year Average): East Stroudsburg, Slippery Rock

Reserves to Operate at least 40% of Fiscal Year without Revenue (Three Year Average): East Stroudsburg, Millersville, Slippery Rock, West Chester

Reserves to Operate at least 200 Days without Revenue (Three Year Average): East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Slippery Rock, West Chester

Conclusions? Recommendations?

[Fightingscot82]

Since it came up, I'll share some quasi-public metrics on the PASSHE schools.

Positive Average Full Time Equivalency Enrollment (Two Year Average): Cheyney

Positive Adjusted Annual Operating Margin at least 2% (Three Year Average): East Stroudsburg, Slippery Rock

Reserves to Operate at least 40% of Fiscal Year without Revenue (Three Year Average): East Stroudsburg, Millersville, Slippery Rock, West Chester

Reserves to Operate at least 200 Days without Revenue (Three Year Average): East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Slippery Rock, West Chester

[Fightingscot82]

It was certainly a mistake to eliminate the names of the long-established colleges and morph them into an ambiguous entity called Penn West. At worst, they should have Penn West-Clarion Campus or some similar construction. Edinboro, Clarion, and California are familiar names to many Pennsylvania residents. Many persons I talk to in my region don't know what three schools have been placed under the Penn West banner or that Penn West even exists. For that matter I'm often asked which schools are part of the Commonwealth triad at eastern half of the state. They need to get this situation corrected. PASSHE can't keep shoveling funds into Penn West and Cheyney to the detriment of the rest of the system, especially since several of the other schools aren't in particularly robust shape. Whether the process can be completely turned around is questionable as Pa. has a lot of colleges and a declining number of students. Something eventually will have to give.

Cheyney is operating in the black. Most of that is because they get back end functions handled by West Chester. In fact, Cheyney has experienced a 13% enrollment growth in the last two years. Yes, they were a mess, but when you're hemorrhaging students (i.e. source of 70% of your revenue) in this system they take the easy way (eliminating functions to cut costs) instead of the hard way (figuring out how to improve enrollment/revenue).

The future is adults. A lot of working adults only need a skills certificate for a position or career change, not an entire other degree. The Google certificates are a nod in that direction. The other HUGE population is the 20+ million adults with college credits but no degree. The students that dropped out, failed out, kicked out, or just changed their minds. Degree completion programs and programs designed for working adults who are making a major career change but need an actual degree will be essential as the number of high school students continues to decline. Colleges should be the credential industry leaders. They can't move as quickly as Google or LinkedIn nor do they have the disposable and movable cash to start something like this.