PASSHE Institutions Merging

[Fightingscot82]

[

Why don't our schools go the co-op route? I have a son who went to RIT with a co-op at Kodack at the time. He has moved around to several large companies like GE, Garmin, CarMax, and Amazon. I credit RIT and his choice of study for giving him the option to retire in his thirties.

Great question. But they can't even get the schools to require a capstone experience (internship or research thesis) for each program so students graduate with experience in using that degree.

To be honest, its probably because after PASSHE everyone tried developing themselves into comprehensive regional universities similar to what you see in Ohio. Problem is that PA already had Penn State then took on Pitt and Temple 15-20 years before. The schools lost their connection to their founding philosophy and infused WAY too much liberal arts. When I was a student 50% of the courses were liberal arts gen eds. Its good for the "college is about expanding your mind" crowd and helps create superficial demand for courses that people generally don't look at Kutztown or Clarion to study like philosophy or economics. We were founded as what is for lack of a better term, a trade school, for teaching. The education at the beginning was extremely hands-on and a better mix of lecture (they had mandatory chapel led by the president) and cooperative learning (hence the on campus lab schools). They should have developed into teaching-focused universities not trying to be a mini research university - or if you teach in the humanities a public liberal arts college. At the very least schools should have been driven to specialize beyond teacher education. But that doesn't fly if the president or provost are from backgrounds that don't align with that direction. There's no convincing a president or provost who has a PhD in Literature that Shippensburg should be the engineering school.

[Fightingscot82]

PASSHE certainly doesn't have the same number of big-money "sugar daddies" putting money into the schools as the more elite private universities do, and combined with the stagnant support from the Pa. legislature that puts our alma maters on the short end.

They weren't even allowed to solicit donations or accept endowed gifts until the 1970s.

[Bart]

[

Yeah. For as expensive as they are, they're thriving. The 90s and early 00s had crazy growth for Drexel. I think I remember reading that their enrollment doubled and endowment quadrupled or something like that. Their law school is named after the same NJ attorney who gave a naming gift to Duquesne law school (also the guy who sued Penn State after the hazing death). Med school is doing very well, too. Of course, the co-op model is increasingly popular for the "college is job training" crowd and at the schools that use it like Kettering, Northeastern, RIT, etc.[/QUOTE]

Why don't our schools go the co-op route? I have a son who went to RIT with a co-op at Kodack at the time. He has moved around to several large companies like GE, Garmin, CarMax, and Amazon. I credit RIT and his choice of study for giving him the option to retire in his thirties.

[Ship69]

The money that has poured into Drexel has no comparison to the PASSHE. Two different universes.

PASSHE certainly doesn't have the same number of big-money "sugar daddies" putting money into the schools as the more elite private universities do, and combined with the stagnant support from the Pa. legislature that puts our alma maters on the short end.

[IUPNation]

The money that has poured into Drexel has no comparison to the PASSHE. Two different universes.

Thry have beautiful glass dorm towers. It offsets all of the orange brick on its older buildings. That’s how you knew you were on their campus…

[iupgroundhog]

Yeah. For as expensive as they are, they're thriving. The 90s and early 00s had crazy growth for Drexel. I think I remember reading that their enrollment doubled and endowment quadrupled or something like that. Their law school is named after the same NJ attorney who gave a naming gift to Duquesne law school (also the guy who sued Penn State after the hazing death). Med school is doing very well, too. Of course, the co-op model is increasingly popular for the "college is job training" crowd and at the schools that use it like Kettering, Northeastern, RIT, etc.

The money that has poured into Drexel has no comparison to the PASSHE. Two different universes.

[IUPNation]

Drexel and Salus (formerly PA College of Optometry) are exploring what sure as heck sounds like a merger: https://drexel.edu/president/message...us-university/

H
Drexel just takes in the distressed…and University City is finally realizing it’s potential between Drexel snd Penn. it’s why Philadelphia will never go Detroit like the
haters have claimed it will for the last three decades.

[Fightingscot82]

Interesting. Drexel is becoming an educational powerhouse. It's come a long way since the days of Drexel Tech

Yeah. For as expensive as they are, they're thriving. The 90s and early 00s had crazy growth for Drexel. I think I remember reading that their enrollment doubled and endowment quadrupled or something like that. Their law school is named after the same NJ attorney who gave a naming gift to Duquesne law school (also the guy who sued Penn State after the hazing death). Med school is doing very well, too. Of course, the co-op model is increasingly popular for the "college is job training" crowd and at the schools that use it like Kettering, Northeastern, RIT, etc.

[iupgroundhog]

Drexel and Salus (formerly PA College of Optometry) are exploring what sure as heck sounds like a merger: https://drexel.edu/president/message...us-university/

Interesting. Drexel is becoming an educational powerhouse. It's come a long way since the days of Drexel Tech

[Fightingscot82]

Drexel and Salus (formerly PA College of Optometry) are exploring what sure as heck sounds like a merger: https://drexel.edu/president/message...us-university/

[Fightingscot82]

The Shamokin campus of Luzerne CC is probably the closest to any Commonwealth campus (Bloomsburg).

Again, these agreements are pretty common, and don't really have a history of improving CC transfer enrollment. It just makes the actual transfer process easier. Usually a student can find out before they apply which credits will transfer, but with these generally all credits with a C grade or higher transfer as "something".

[iupgroundhog]

Guessing Luzerne County CC with 7 satellite centers.

Correct. I don't know what the satellites are like or where they are. However, if you look at the map in the link below it shows that the I-80 schools + Mansfield are not served by the community college system at all. I find that interesting because the original mission of the PASSHE and the community colleges has coverage of the entire state as a foundational goal.

Actually, for the Commonwealth schools and Clarion this should give them an advantage in recruitment, right? Also, in light of the alleged vocational orientation of Commonwealth, those schools (that school) should be able to grow into a hybrid 4 yr. university/2 yr. community college. I think that would give them a niche.

https://pacommunitycolleges.org/find...unity-college/

[Bart]

Since WACC became Penn College (how many years ago?), what is the nearest CC to Commonwealth University?

Guessing Luzerne County CC with 7 satellite centers.

[iupgroundhog]

https://www.pennlive.com/education/2...-students.html

"Pennsylvania’s 10 state universities and 15 community colleges have pledged to strengthen their relationship to make it easier for students to transfer between them"....and
"establishes a reverse transfer agreement allowing state university students to transfer back to a community college, and allocates financial aid at the universities for community college graduates"

One big happy family.

Since WACC became Penn College (how many years ago?), what is the nearest CC to Commonwealth University?

[Ship69]

For a while I thought it was a ruse by the chancellor to say something like 'hey we're making harsh changes - give us more money' because if so, that kind of worked with Wolf & the previous legislature. PA Republicans in the legislature know the value of PASSHE and like to think a lot of reform is happening. But now I think that its clear the plan isn't working (or there really is a lack of a true plan beyond consolidation) that this is just a way to deflect from the anxiety & response to a full closure.

Do they know they value of PASSHE? I wonder. What is the state allocating for the system this year — I believe the last figure I saw was something north of $500 million. Sounds like a lot until I notice that Northwestern is considering an $800 million renovation of its football stadium, and $400 million of that is largely coming from one donor. Harvard recently received a donation of $300 million from one guy. So there's an example of two wealthy guys providing more money to two schools than the entire state of Pennsylvania provides to a 14-school university system. Public higher education is in big trouble in our state.