PASSHE Institutions Merging

[iupgroundhog]

"Power rankings" of PASSHE campuses:(My opinions in bold)

1. West Chester - Enrollment down but still steady. Emptying their cash reserves so it doesn't keep getting stolen to cover losses elsewhere.(enrollment growth probably maxed out and will trend slowly downward - agree about the reserves)
2. Slippery Rock - Enrollment up 1.5%. Housing over capacity. Third-most cash reserves. Major renovation to Morrow Fieldhouse coming in 2025 that will be big.(it's still Slippery Rock to me)
3. Millersville - Enrollment up big for some reason. Largest increase in the system.( Ville has followed their quality model for many years, resulting in a higher power ranking)
4. Kutztown - Basically holding steady in a good way.(Geographically well situated)
5. Bloomsburg - would be #4 if not pulled down by having to manage two other campuses.(I doubt it. Bloom lost identity but they were going down and I think in the long run the merger helps Bloom)
6. Shippensburg - Enrollment slightly up. Holding steady but a big divide between Ship and the rest below.(interestingly, the area has grown recently and they have their engineering programs)
7. East Stroudsburg - Tons of town/gown challenges with student behavior. (Not important - I guess there isn't much else to say about ESU)
8. California - Penn West is dragging them down, otherwise they'd be higher. Similar challenge to IUP - a lot of folks assume things are great like its 2009.( I don't think PennWest is dragging them down any more than they were already being dragged down)
9. Lock Haven - Scuffling but the Commonwealth merger is helping. Town is taking hits too. Wrestling returning to supremacy.(LHU was positioned to do better pre-merger. What hits to the town are you talking about? I agree with the wrestling. LHU looking towards a 3rd straight MAC title and maybe a top 15 NCAA finish)
10. Mansfield - Would be #11 if not for the Commonwealth merger keeping them propped up. (What? Mansfield would be dead last no matter how you slice it. Mounties are propped up with or without the merger)
11. IUP - Enrollment just keeps dropping and the layoffs keep coming. 4 student-facing people let go this week. Most alumni have no clue what's going on. (We are hoping. There is the new science building and the foundations for the medical school. Plus, it is IUP. I think alumni know what is going on)
12. Cheyney - With West Chester carrying much of the back end management, they're financially sound. If they brought back athletics they'd be golden. (Cheyney finally came up with a viable model to move forward. In the future, athletics could increase their visibility. But it's academics first)
13. Edinboro - Somehow ended up the loser of the Penn West merger. Enrollment and athletics in freefall. Campus is a ghost town. At least the town is doing alright. (I truly am sorry for Boro but they were lost before the merger. There were no good options)
14. Clarion - You know how when you're emptying a tub the water starts moving faster around the drain right before its done? That's Clarion. (While endangered, I don't think Clarion is as endangered as Edinboro. I think CU has a geographic advantage and an advantage with key programs that Edinboro doesn't have. Still, it's obviously a dire situation)

[Fightingscot82]

I thought applications were up at IUP?

Applications don't mean much anymore. The Common App allows kids to apply to 20 schools with one application. Athletics also drives a lot of applications - that scholarship offer is contingent on acceptance so a lot of the kids offered hurry up and submit an application without much true interest in coming to IUP.

IUP could have 10,000 applicants and accept 5,000 of them - but all that really matters is how many of the 5,000 actually enroll. That's what our schools are terrible at doing.

[iupgroundhog]

I thought applications were up at IUP?

It's just an opinion. Beyond the basic trends, I disagree with a lot of that assessment.

[IUPNation]

I thought applications were up at IUP?

[Fightingscot82]

State system is beyond a bad joke. Too many schools seems to be the problem for the last 20 YEARS. Closing a few would go a long way, just sayin.

Only the state legislature can close a university. They can't even pass a budget they've agreed upon. The chancellor can compel a merged university to close a campus. The Board of Governors overseeing PASSHE has been a joke for too long. The chair is married to the very rich and politically powerful owner of Giant Eagle but has never donated a penny to any one PASSHE school. The best thing that's happened to PASSHE in the last 25 years is a chancellor who asked for big money with data to support and some politicians on the board bargaining for that big ask in exchange for tuition freezes. I'd venture to say that the bulk of the individual school Councils of Trustees are jokes, which is why the schools are struggling.

Power rankings of PASSHE campuses:

1. West Chester - Enrollment down but still steady. Emptying their cash reserves so it doesn't keep getting stolen to cover losses elsewhere.
2. Slippery Rock - Enrollment up 1.5%. Housing over capacity. Third-most cash reserves. Major renovation to Morrow Fieldhouse coming in 2025 that will be big.
3. Millersville - Enrollment up big for some reason. Largest increase in the system.
4. Kutztown - Basically holding steady in a good way.
5. Bloomsburg - would be #4 if not pulled down by having to manage two other campuses.
6. Shippensburg - Enrollment slightly up. Holding steady but a big divide between Ship and the rest below.
7. East Stroudsburg - Tons of town/gown challenges with student behavior.
8. California - Penn West is dragging them down, otherwise they'd be higher. Similar challenge to IUP - a lot of folks assume things are great like its 2009.
9. Lock Haven - Scuffling but the Commonwealth merger is helping. Town is taking hits too. Wrestling returning to supremacy.
10. Mansfield - Would be #11 if not for the Commonwealth merger keeping them propped up.
11. IUP - Enrollment just keeps dropping and the layoffs keep coming. 4 student-facing people let go this week. Most alumni have no clue what's going on.
12. Cheyney - With West Chester carrying much of the back end management, they're financially sound. If they brought back athletics they'd be golden.
13. Edinboro - Somehow ended up the loser of the Penn West merger. Enrollment and athletics in freefall. Campus is a ghost town. At least the town is doing alright.
14. Clarion - You know how when you're emptying a tub the water starts moving faster around the drain right before its done? That's Clarion.

[Iupgh]

So it's three unique partnerships to explore different types of shared services or future innovation.

Cal and Clarion are going explore online driven programs.

Edinboro and Slippery Rock are exploring shared back end functions plus trying a unified admissions plan.

Mansfield and Lock Haven are going to pursue creating non degree credentials to promote lifelong learning and career pivots without requiring a new degree.

These are not mergers. They're exploring different models of the larger system redesign.

State system is beyond a bad joke. Too many schools seems to be the problem for the last 20 YEARS. Closing a few would go a long way, just sayin.

[IUPNation]

They could turn Cheyney into a business park pretty quick. Or, some other use.

UPenn would probably buy it.

Suburban office parks are not the future. SAP’s big glass building in Newtown Square sits empty every day..they still work from home.

[IUPNation]

Maybe. It’s if you are putting still pretty close to the outer limits of the sprawl and the demo costs would be substantial.

Not if you build 7- 8 figure homes on the land…it’s a high rent district.

[Ship69]

Should be an interesting test for how selling off a former PASSHE campus will go a few years from now: https://www.pennlive.com/realestate-...lassrooms.html

Scotland School, as mentioned in the article, was primarily a school for veterans' kids, often orphans, at one time, but over the years it gradually became a haven for low-income kids from troubled homes. They often punched above their weight in sports because in spite of the school's rural location there was usually a large contingent of urban minority kids enrolled. They won a couple of state championships in their enrollment classification in basketball and had some standout individual football and track athletes. Chuck Davis, at one time Shippensburg's all-time leading scorer with 1,825 points, came out of Scotland. In recent years, the site had been run by some Christian outfit based out of Korea. That apparently did not work out.

[iupgroundhog]

Maybe. Its still pretty close to the outer limits of the sprawl and the demo costs would be substantial.

They could turn Cheyney into a business park pretty quick. Or, some other use.

UPenn would probably buy it.

[Fightingscot82]

I don’t think they’d have too much of a problem selling off Cheyney. It’s prime real estate.

Maybe. Its still pretty close to the outer limits of the sprawl and the demo costs would be substantial.

[IUPNation]

Yeah I can't imagine much else for it given where it is. So many out of the way towns in PA based on former industries and former modes of transportation (river, train, etc) that are now passed over by interstates and major roads.

There really isn't much of a market anywhere for a college campus not located in a major metro starved for real estate. Georgia Southern University is having trouble selling off parts of the former Armstrong State campus that they merged with - and that's in the Savannah/Hilton Head market.

I don’t think they’d have too much of a problem selling off Cheyney. It’s prime real estate.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

My money’s on that getting blown up and turned into warehouses.

Dollar General probably already has the wrecking ball on the way.

[Fightingscot82]

My money’s on that getting blown up and turned into warehouses.

Yeah I can't imagine much else for it given where it is. So many out of the way towns in PA based on former industries and former modes of transportation (river, train, etc) that are now passed over by interstates and major roads.

There really isn't much of a market anywhere for a college campus not located in a major metro starved for real estate. Georgia Southern University is having trouble selling off parts of the former Armstrong State campus that they merged with - and that's in the Savannah/Hilton Head market.

[cwfenn]

Should be an interesting test for how selling off a former PASSHE campus will go a few years from now: https://www.pennlive.com/realestate-...lassrooms.html

My money’s on that getting blown up and turned into warehouses.