FC: Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education

[Richard the LIONhearted]

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/04/26/new-report-recommends-mergers-pennsylvania


Would PS be interested or even willing to acquire and merge any of these schools into the Commonwealth Campus system?

 

[Nitt1300]

Can Danby profit from it?

 

[psuro]

Merge state system universities and convert them to state-related status. State-related universities in Pennsylvania, like Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh, are not state owned and have more autonomy but receive funding from the state

So, much like the airlines, reduce competition and drive up pricing for the consumer?

 

[chrisrn1965]

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/04/26/new-report-recommends-mergers-pennsylvania


Would PS be interested or even willing to acquire and merge any of these schools into the Commonwealth Campus system?

I think that would be a bad idea. PSU already has too many campuses.

 

[Keyser Soze 16801]

The state has way too many universities

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

This is a wildly idiotic idea. After seeing who compiled the report, I'm not surprised.

- Yes, let's keep the current state system. Improve governance? This is Pennsylvania you're talking about. LOL

- Keep the state system....and conduct regional mergers.... How about just closing underperforming campuses instead of putting lipstick on a pig?

- Merge schools into state-related status. This is perhaps the most laughable of all suggestions. State-related schools already complain they don't get enough funding. So....yeah....let's throw a bunch more into that status. Great idea.

- Place PASSHE under the management of a state-related university. See above.

- Merge PASSHE schools into existing state-related universities. See above.

It's time to get real. PA doesn't need this many colleges, and PSU doesn't need this many campuses. Close them and move on. Do we really need a PASSHE school in Clarion? Nope. How about Penn State Shenango? Absolutely not. But, will the state do anything about this? Hell no.

 

[tatum56]

Merge state system universities and convert them to state-related status. State-related universities in Pennsylvania, like Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh, are not state owned and have more autonomy but receive funding from the state

So, much like the airlines, reduce competition and drive up pricing for the consumer?

Airfare is cheaper now than 30 years ago.

 

[NittPicker]

Merge PASSHE with the state related schools?? Imagine the tuition carnage. State support for higher education in PA is a joke.

 

[BobPSU92]

Ooh, Slippery Rock could merge with Penn State.

If East Stroudsburg merged with Penn State, we could consider Franklin a Penn State grad.

 

[BobPSU92]

Merge PASSHE with the state related schools?? Imagine the tuition carnage.

 

[BobPSU92]

For those interested in the Rand report: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2486.html.

 

[psuro]

Airfare is cheaper now than 30 years ago.

Relatively speaking to inflation and other factors. But you missed the point of my post.

 

[PS4814]

Stop the reckless "arms race" construction projects. Within the last 10-15 years the amount of building/construction going on at campuses across the country is insane. As the former Kutztown University president said, "The day a bulldozer is not operating on campus is the day I retire". Cheyney is on a whole other level as far as incompetence / failure of leadership / lack of enrollment - yet they recently completed a $21 million new science building and a $45 million residence hall.

 

[Evan Ceg]

There's always a big PR problem when a college is closed, a branch campus is closed, or an academic major is eliminated. Students, parents, faculty complain loudly about the resulting disruption in their lives. Alumni chime in, too. And public educational institutions, always hypersensitive to public goodwill, can't take the heat. So, decisions that should be made on behalf of operational efficiency and reduced cost, don't get made.

The sea changes coming to higher ed will result in reduced demand for four-year residential baccalaureate programs. Preparing for these changes, rather than waiting naively to be abused by them, should be a top priority for PSU's BoT. "Restoring the Statue," literally or figuratively, should not.

 

[anon_1eeb2b426hv3y]

This is a wildly idiotic idea. After seeing who compiled the report, I'm not surprised.

- Yes, let's keep the current state system. Improve governance? This is Pennsylvania you're talking about. LOL

- Keep the state system....and conduct regional mergers.... How about just closing underperforming campuses instead of putting lipstick on a pig?

- Merge schools into state-related status. This is perhaps the most laughable of all suggestions. State-related schools already complain they don't get enough funding. So....yeah....let's throw a bunch more into that status. Great idea.

- Place PASSHE under the management of a state-related university. See above.

- Merge PASSHE schools into existing state-related universities. See above.

It's time to get real. PA doesn't need this many colleges, and PSU doesn't need this many campuses. Close them and move on. Do we really need a PASSHE school in Clarion? Nope. How about Penn State Shenango? Absolutely not. But, will the state do anything about this? Hell no.

...like the “temporary” increase in sales tax that was here to stay forever the moment they passed it?

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

...like the “temporary” increase in sales tax that was here to stay forever the moment they passed it?

It's laughable when a politician labels a tax or fee as "temporary."

 

[Art]

There's always a big PR problem when a college is closed, a branch campus is closed, or an academic major is eliminated. Students, parents, faculty complain loudly about the resulting disruption in their lives. Alumni chime in, too. And public educational institutions, always hypersensitive to public goodwill, can't take the heat. So, decisions that should be made on behalf of operational efficiency and reduced cost, don't get made.

The sea changes coming to higher ed will result in reduced demand for four-year residential baccalaureate programs. Preparing for these changes, rather than waiting naively to be abused by them, should be a top priority for PSU's BoT. "Restoring the Statue," literally or figuratively, should not.

If you believe that PSU's BoT, or that of virtually any other university for that matter, is even thinking about that then you don't understand how these bodies work. It's not their bailiwick and they don't have the resources. Unless the administration puts proposals before them, it ain't gettin' done. Barron and his minions should do it's job. Any efforts on the part of one or a group of trustees to restore the statue won't interfere with that.

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

8 of Penn State's 19 Commonwealth Campuses have total enrollments of less than 1,000

Many of those campuses - at the expense of the University - have to offer significant stipends and fee waivers (both of tuition and of room&board costs) just to keep enough folks there to fog a mirror.

All of those campuses are less than 1 hour from another PSU campus - - - - - many just a few minutes drive away.


But no one - in Administration of Board - will do anything but recite soliloquys to the Majesty of the Commonwealth Campus system - - - - - - lest they offend a single individual....... or put any of the myriad duplicative and unnecessary administrative positions created at all of those campuses at risk.

Why? Because it ain't their money being wasted..... but all that wasted money sure buys them support.

QED

As slimy as I feel saying this, you're 100% correct.

Take a look at the I-81 corridor in eastern PA. Within less than a 1.5hr drive, you have the Schuylkill, Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre, and Scranton campuses. Two of them have horrendous enrollment numbers.

Shenango and Beaver are within an hour of each other, and then you throw in McKeesport.

There's absolutely no need for PSU to have that many campuses so close together, but no one has the balls to do anything about it.

 

[stf110]

There is an incredible amount of over saturation in many areas where you have various State and State Related campuses all chasing the same students and spending money on marketing to chase the same students.

You can often be in various parts of the western half of the State, be on a State System, or Commonwealth, or Pitt Branch, campus and be 30 or 45 minutes away from another campus from one or more of those three entities.

Its mostly due to just how odd the setup is in Pennsylvania. In most other states PSU, Temple, Pitt, IUP, and a few of the others would exist, and maybe some satellite campuses....and that's it.

And they all would be under the same umbrella of one system. Not 4-5 separate entities all battling each other for money and students.

 

[Evan Ceg]

If you believe that PSU's BoT, or that of virtually any other university for that matter, is even thinking about that then you don't understand how these bodies work. It's not their bailiwick and they don't have the resources. Unless the administration puts proposals before them, it ain't gettin' done. Barron and his minions should do it's job. Any efforts on the part of one or a group of trustees to restore the statue won't interfere with that.

I agree that "board leadership" at Penn State and elsewhere is an oxymoron. The next truly visionary board of directors/trustees I encounter will be the first. Boards are almost always reactive rather than proactive, and in the few cases where the latter appears, it's because of a dynamic and fearless chairperson. For the most part, boards react to what management feeds them.

So, yes, it's up to Barron and his team to put these upcoming challenges and questions in front of the BoT. If Barron is not, then that should be a major criticism. But the BoT members, as due diligence, should be thinking about and asking questions about the future impacts of tight public and family budgets and educational technology.

Somewhat similar to when the BoT apparently failed to ask a single question when Spanier and Baldwin briefed (and it was indeed brief) the BoT in May 2011 about the risks to Penn State of the Sandusky grand jury. Spanier deserved to be fired for getting that risk assessment so wrong, and the board members at the time should have resigned for accepting Spanier's evaluation without challenge.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

I agree that "board leadership" at Penn State and elsewhere is an oxymoron. The next truly visionary board of directors/trustees I encounter will be the first. Boards are almost always reactive rather than proactive, and in the few cases where the latter appears, it's because of a dynamic and fearless chairperson. For the most part, boards react to what management feeds them.

That seems to be a popular perception of the PSU BOT. Things are not as simple as that. The alumni trustees have been far more visionary than most folks realize. Unfortunately, they repeatedly bump into either being disregarded by the leadership of the PSU BOT, or the leadership acknowledges the point that the alumni trustees raise, but then bungles the process going forward (and frequently doesn't involved the alumni trustees in the process).

 

[Fox Chapel Lion II]

bungles

That's quite the apt description. That's what they do.

 

[Ian]

Yes. Too much overlap and competition. Merge these campuses like a any major corporate merger.

Otherwise, they will dry on the vine.

By the way, a new be page report by RAND. How much did that cost.

 

[Art]

I agree that "board leadership" at Penn State and elsewhere is an oxymoron. The next truly visionary board of directors/trustees I encounter will be the first. Boards are almost always reactive rather than proactive, and in the few cases where the latter appears, it's because of a dynamic and fearless chairperson. For the most part, boards react to what management feeds them.

So, yes, it's up to Barron and his team to put these upcoming challenges and questions in front of the BoT. If Barron is not, then that should be a major criticism. But the BoT members, as due diligence, should be thinking about and asking questions about the future impacts of tight public and family budgets and educational technology.

Somewhat similar to when the BoT apparently failed to ask a single question when Spanier and Baldwin briefed (and it was indeed brief) the BoT in May 2011 about the risks to Penn State of the Sandusky grand jury. Spanier deserved to be fired for getting that risk assessment so wrong, and the board members at the time should have resigned for accepting Spanier's evaluation without challenge.

Good assessment. For the three cents my opinion is worth, and I'm probably overvaluing it, the PSU Board seems to be largely populated by numbskulls. Dambly is embarrassing every time he opens his mouth.If he ever talked to me the way he did to Alice Pope he'd be inspiring turnips.

 

[Keyser Soze 16801]

The sea changes coming to higher ed will result in reduced demand for four-year residential baccalaureate programs. Preparing for these changes, rather than waiting naively to be abused by them, should be a top priority for PSU's BoT. "Restoring the Statue," literally or figuratively, should not.

Interesting that you call out those trustees but not the ones who pushed building 7-figure new dorms on Philly area commuter campuses; dorms that will never earn back the cost of building them. Agenda much?

 

[Keyser Soze 16801]

EIGHT figure.

In fact, High Eight figure

I meant 8, sorry, typing too fast

 

[BobPSU92]

So are mergers with Penn State out of the question? Any chance barren makes a run at adding significant overhead here?