PASSHE Institutions Merging

[Ship69]

I've been to a lot of major campuses (and a whole crap load of small colleges).

I would say that very few resemble the 'perfect' campuses that are portrayed in movies. Most have some good and bad.

One of my personal favorites is actually Alabama. Clemson is also very nice along with North Carolina.

I'm far from a 'JoePa' but I do really like the town of State College.

Beaver Stadium does look like an erector set when nobody is in it ... but it looks real freaking good when there's 107,000 in there. I might even say, as much as it pains me, Beaver Stadium may have the best 'night' experience and atmosphere in all of college football.

Yeah, you're having a great game experience in an ugly stadium. Northwestern, much smaller than Penn State, has a nice campus, and the location on Lake Michigan doesn't hurt, either.q Evanston is a nice town, even though the local powers-that-be there aren't in love with the university, which occupies a lot of valuable property on the lakefront for which it is not paying property taxes.

As far as Penn State lacking charm as I indicated, that was just an observation. Most other large state university campuses are sprawiing entities that certainly do tend to be utilitarian. And since tax dollars are involved in funding a lot of them, they're looking to build at the lowest price, not necessarily to make an architectural statement.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I wasn't...I guess I just had bigger expectations and was just a little surprised their campus was just a nicer version of a State System Campus and not something with the WOW factor.

I've been to a lot of major campuses (and a whole crap load of small colleges).

I would say that very few resemble the 'perfect' campuses that are portrayed in movies. Most have some good and bad.

One of my personal favorites is actually Alabama. Clemson is also very nice along with North Carolina.

I'm far from a 'JoePa' but I do really like the town of State College.

Beaver Stadium does look like an erector set when nobody is in it ... but it looks real freaking good when there's 107,000 in there. I might even say, as much as it pains me, Beaver Stadium may have the best 'night' experience and atmosphere in all of college football.

[IUPNation]

Don't take offense - I was just giving my perspective - an alternate view. When you bring Penn into the conversation, that's an Ivy League school, as we all know. I've visited all of the Ivies except Brown and Dartmouth. But Ivy League campuses are going to be different than campuses for land grant schools (aesthetically). There is a difference in purpose (and other factors), public versus private, that does fit the overall narrative of this lengthy thread.

I wasn't...I guess I just had bigger expectations and was just a little surprised their campus was just a nicer version of a State System Campus and not something with the WOW factor.

[iupgroundhog]

State College has more than double the permanent population than Indiana. The Community College has 4-5 times the enrollment on campus. There are close to 90,000 people in State College on a given day minus any visitors as opposed to just under 25,000 a day in Indiana. So yeah...it's going to be better there. The campus there is fine. I just expected more like a bigger and better version of Penn's Locust Walk. Old Main is bigger than Sutton. I wasn't even comparing the two. However, the current Old Main is not the original and is not as old as Sutton. Just Sayin...

Most of the time I spent there last time was at the Nittany Lion Inn and the part of campus by the Creamery and the stadium. It was okay...like it's been said it looks functional and well integrated. I imagine new students find it overwhelming on it's size and having to get around from class to class on time.

Don't take offense - I was just giving my perspective - an alternate view. When you bring Penn into the conversation, that's an Ivy League school, as we all know. I've visited all of the Ivies except Brown and Dartmouth. But Ivy League campuses are going to be different than campuses for land grant schools (aesthetically). There is a difference in purpose (and other factors), public versus private, that does fit the overall narrative of this lengthy thread.

[IUPNation]

PSU was never designed to be charming. I would describe it as utilitarian. I mean, it has farms. I remember as a kid visiting a cousin who was a doctoral student with a family and they lived on campus in military barracks-style housing. It was originally constructed for GI Bill recipients after WWII. It was not charming but it did serve the purpose. That visit was probably 1964-65. I haven't been there for 6 or 7 years.so I might have missed some recent overdevelopment.

However, the charm of PSU has always been the relationship and seamless integration of the campus and the town. State College has always been considered the quintessential college town. In town, you have great shopping, restaurants, and bars. Plus, if you polled people pitting Old Main up against Sutton Hall, for example, I think Old Main comes out on top. And I love Sutton Hall..

State College has more than double the permanent population than Indiana. The Community College has 4-5 times the enrollment on campus. There are close to 90,000 people in State College on a given day minus any visitors as opposed to just under 25,000 a day in Indiana. So yeah...it's going to be better there. The campus there is fine. I just expected more like a bigger and better version of Penn's Locust Walk. Old Main is bigger than Sutton. I wasn't even comparing the two. However, the current Old Main is not the original and is not as old as Sutton. Just Sayin...

Most of the time I spent there last time was at the Nittany Lion Inn and the part of campus by the Creamery and the stadium. It was okay...like it's been said it looks functional and well integrated. I imagine new students find it overwhelming on it's size and having to get around from class to class on time.

[iupgroundhog]

It just didn't look any better than most of the State System Campuses. Our schools have sections of their campuses that have their charms but we aren't thinking they are are among the great college campuses in the country. IUP has the Sutton front lawn and the Oak Grove. Walk On U has the tree lined Church Street. Millersville has a lovely section of campus behind their library.

I expected it to better. It was just a bigger version of them.

I did like staying at the Nittany Lion Inn. It was nice old hotel on campus. I was able to walk to the Creamery.

PSU was never designed to be charming. I would describe it as utilitarian. I mean, it has farms. I remember as a kid visiting a cousin who was a doctoral student with a family and they lived on campus in military barracks-style housing. It was originally constructed for GI Bill recipients after WWII. It was not charming but it did serve the purpose. That visit was probably 1964-65. I haven't been there for 6 or 7 years.so I might have missed some recent overdevelopment.

However, the charm of PSU has always been the relationship and seamless integration of the campus and the town. State College has always been considered the quintessential college town. In town, you have great shopping, restaurants, and bars. Plus, if you polled people pitting Old Main up against Sutton Hall, for example, I think Old Main comes out on top. And I love Sutton Hall..

Edit: A quick google search reveals that miliary barracks housing was actually constructed during WWI. Article below. For those who enjoy history.

https://www.psu.edu/news/campus-life...aining-ground/

[Ship69]

There are a few nice areas to the Penn State campus, but overall it just grew will-nilly into a big sprawl and has little charm. It's much the same case as Beaver Stadium. When I attended my first game in State College (Joe Paterno's first year as head coach), Beaver Stadium seated about 47,000 and wasn't enclosed at either end. The scoreboard sat on two wooden columns just beyond one of the end zones. Over the years they just kept tacking on additions, enclosed the end zones, and built it higher, resulting in today's stadium that looks like something a kid let loose with an Erector set might have produced.

[IUPNation]

Way too big now. The developers also ruined State College along College, Atherton, and Beaver Avenues.

It just didn't look any better than most of the State System Campuses. Our schools have sections of their campuses that have their charms but we aren't thinking they are are among the great college campuses in the country. IUP has the Sutton front lawn and the Oak Grove. Walk On U has the tree lined Church Street. Millersville has a lovely section of campus behind their library.

I expected it to better. It was just a bigger version of them.

I did like staying at the Nittany Lion Inn. It was nice old hotel on campus. I was able to walk to the Creamery.

[Fightingscot82]

To be honest, I didn’t find the campus at the Centre County Community College all that great either. It was okay but not great.

Way too big now. The developers also ruined State College along College, Atherton, and Beaver Avenues.

[IUPNation]

It would be a lot nicer if they weren't so pressed for land. Before they built the two annex campuses in town, they really put buildings where they could. But that still can't make up for Morgantown being such a dump - and what nice parts there are with all the national chain and big box comforts is overcrowded with a bad mix of student & community housing. Can you imagine Indiana professors and townies living in a nice subdivision but with a student apartment complex just above looking down into their yards? WVU gives a lot of greater Pittsburgh kids the Penn State flagship party school experience - but an average high school student can get accepted unlike Penn State.

To be honest, I didn’t find the campus at the Centre County Community College all that great either. It was okay but not great.

[Fightingscot82]

I've never been on their campus but it doesn't look very charming in the Google Map Street Views.

It would be a lot nicer if they weren't so pressed for land. Before they built the two annex campuses in town, they really put buildings where they could. But that still can't make up for Morgantown being such a dump - and what nice parts there are with all the national chain and big box comforts is overcrowded with a bad mix of student & community housing. Can you imagine Indiana professors and townies living in a nice subdivision but with a student apartment complex just above looking down into their yards? WVU gives a lot of greater Pittsburgh kids the Penn State flagship party school experience - but an average high school student can get accepted unlike Penn State.

[IUPNation]

The cuts are reportedly to impact 147 undergrad students and 287 grad students or less than 2% of enrollment. The local state reps tried to get the legislature to send WVU some cash infusion during a recent special session but it wasn't passed. They'll probably give it another go come January when they are back in regular session. WVU took on alot of debt to buy up the sunny side slumlords and built fancy new apartment complexes near campus. Alot of those are sitting empty now with the enrollment drop.

I've never been on their campus but it doesn't look very charming in the Google Map Street Views.

[The P in IUP]

For those who haven't seen the coverage or the conversation in the MEC board...

WVU is in financial trouble as well. They are cutting 32 degree programs and about 145 professor positions. Not sure how many administrative staff (they don't have a contract that requires advanced planning). Similar to what the PennWest schools and IUP tried to do - they had a plan to build the university to 40,000 students by 2030 but instead now they're projecting to be down to about 25,000. $45 million revenue gap for this current fiscal year and they're a staggering $940 million in debt.

The cuts are reportedly to impact 147 undergrad students and 287 grad students or less than 2% of enrollment. The local state reps tried to get the legislature to send WVU some cash infusion during a recent special session but it wasn't passed. They'll probably give it another go come January when they are back in regular session. WVU took on alot of debt to buy up the sunny side slumlords and built fancy new apartment complexes near campus. Alot of those are sitting empty now with the enrollment drop.

[IUPNation]

About 45% is out of state. WVU has some big discount offers for targeted PA & OH counties. But by and large WVU's student profile resembles IUP. Average students with average to below average family incomes. Very sensitive to price and more likely to not finish on time if at all.

A couple of the neighborhood kids who life guarded at our pool over the past few summers were enrolled at WVU. I wonder if they’ll do what a lot do and transfer home to Walk On U.

[IUPNation]

In reality, WVU and IUP are very similar in regard to public perception. WVU is largely seen as the 'big school' version of IUP by most in these parts.

WVU is often the 'fall back' selection. Personally, I'd take IUP any day over WVU. Morgantown is a dump. But, it's a 'name' -- a bigger name for the target audience FS82 described above.

…except IUP has winning foosball and our basketball coach doesn’t drive around Yinzerburgh raging drunk.