Pennsylvania could integrate 6 state universities, including Cal U, Clarion, Edinboro, Slippery Rock

The financially struggling Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education on Thursday took the first step in a two-year redesign process that could see six of its 14 universities integrated into three operating units.

The 20-member State System Board of Governors unanimously approved a resolution instructing Chancellor Daniel Greenstein to launch a three-month financial review into yoking California and Clarion; Slippery Rock and Edinboro; and Lock Haven and Mansfield universities.

The proposed integration plan calls for the schools to remain open but with each of the paired institutions operating with a single leadership team, faculty and staff and academic program.

The board approved the study two weeks after Gov. Tom Wolf signed Act 50, a bill that created a template for PASSHE to “create, expand, consolidate, transfer or affiliate” institutions with fewer than 10,000 students. The law prohibited closing any campuses. The enrollment cap means all PASSHE universities except West Chester and Indiana could be subject to dramatic changes.

Other universities in the state system, created in 1982, include: Bloomsburg, Cheyney, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Millersville and Shippensburg.

Hearty endorsements of the plan came from California University President Geraldine Jones and Clarion President Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson. The two said they already work together on plans to enhance online offerings. Greenstein said such a plan has the potential to recapture some of the 50,000 Pennsylvanians who now look to out-of-state institutions to fill such needs.

Greenstein said integrating Lock Haven and Mansfield would allow them to grow to meet the demand for expanded offerings for non-degree credentials in the state’s northern tier.

An Edinboro-Slippery Rock pairing would take advantage of their geographic proximity to ensure that Edinboro could continue to offer a full range of programs. Edinboro has seen its enrollment drop by nearly half over the last decade, while Slippery Rock, a financially stronger school, has maintained enrollment numbers.

Sally Johnstone is president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), the Colorado-based consulting group that conducted a study of PASHHE three years ago. She said the processes set out in Act 50 are ”consistent with paving the pathway” to implement the kind of collaboration across the system recommended in her group’s report.

The look toward integration follows a decade during which enrollment at PASSHE schools tumbled 20% across the system and as by about 50% at some of the ones targeted for study.

The declines, spurred in part of demographic changes, prompted officials to increase tuition by 32% over the last nine years and reduce staff through early retirement incentives and program cuts.

But Greenstein said financial sustainability plans the six targeted schools submitted suggest a new approach will be needed as the pool of high school graduates, who make up the majority of students at the universities, shrinks even further.

Although officials are hesitant to discuss fall enrollment projections and remain optimistic students will return this fall, enrollment experts say that remains in question as the covid-19 pandemic rages.

Early studies suggested flagship national universities such as Penn State and Michigan would be able to successfully negotiate the pandemic, but pointed to weaknesses in enrollment projections for comprehensive public universities like the PASSHE schools – that educate many first-generation college students, said Michael Reilly, executive director of the National Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Such students are more likely to face issues with family finances and may be hesitant to take on significant debt to attend college when there is the possibility that classrooms could be shuttered if the coronavirus surges this fall.

Greenstein said the state system, which is tasked with providing a quality higher education at the lowest possible cost, is launching the study with those students in mind.

“The goals of integration are about students, about maintaining and expanding high quality affordable education,” he said. “We can’t just cut our way out of this. We have to look for ways to grow. …The first issue out of the gate is does this make sense financially? Is the juice worth the squeeze?”

He said there are indications the institutions could leverage their strengths and grow under a different operating plan.

If the study indicates that is the case and the board agrees, the new law gives Greenstein six months to come up with a concrete proposal. If a two-thirds majority of the board accepts his proposal, that would trigger the beginning of a 60-day public comment period. During that time, the board would hold two public meetings. Then the board could approve or reject the plan.

Greenstein said he anticipates “a robust discussion” and conceded the ultimate plan could look different than the one proposed.

“We’re trying to emphasize the planning process. One of the goals is to honor the key stakeholders and their identity,” Greenstein said.

Nonetheless, he is committed to dealing with cold, hard facts.

“We will go where the data takes us,” he said.

Board approval after the public comment period would trigger prep work to have the new school configurations in place for the 2022-23 school year.

Although lawmakers have been considering changes to the state system for several years and passed Act 50 by a near-unanimous vote, they were careful to include language that would preserve all 14 campuses and require any study to detail the financial impact actions would have on the community surrounding any university subject to changes.

Like all college towns, those where PASSHE schools are located have their share of town/gown disputes. On the other hand, few would argue the importance of the role they play in the community.

In California, a Washington County community with 6,325 residents, the university founded in 1852 as a teacher preparatory academy is the heart of the town located on the bank of the Monongahela River. Although enrollment plummeted from 9,400 in 2010 to 6,842 last fall, the school known locally as Cal U is still the biggest employer around and students bring in vital dollars that help keep local businesses afloat.

The same can be said of the other five universities targeted for the integration study. Each shares the name of the small town where they grew up.

Slippery Rock, the youngest of the five schools, was founded in 1889. Last fall, it enrolled 8,800 students or more than twice the host community’s population of 3,500. The school has capitalized its name and found a market for Slippery Rock University branded regalia like T-shirts and baseball caps across the country.

While the discussion in Pennsylvania may hinge on local issues, other states are facing similar challenges.

Over the last decade, public colleges and universities in Wisconsin, Georgia and Texas have all gone through controversial mergers.

Greenstein said he is painfully aware of all the issues surrounding the integration plan.

“But the path we are on is not the way to sustain what we want to do,” he said. “In my view, failure cannot be a viable option. I focus on it that way.”

Members of the state system oversight board seemed to share that perspective.

Board member Sam Smith, who retired from the legislature as Speaker of the State House, said the integration proposal represents a serious starting point for redesign.

“If we don’t embrace this, we’re back to one of the other options, which in my opinion is a slow death,” Smith said.

“I hope we have the courage to go forward with this wholeheartedly and embrace it,” said board member Janet Yeomans, a former 3M executive from Philadelphia.