If Pennsylvania with its stagnant population still needs 14 state-owned universities — or if fewer institutions would suffice — then where should they be located and what should their priorities be?
Do the net assets or reserves they possess provide enough of a financial safety net, in particular for campuses that are clearly struggling, or might some of those schools be sitting on more wealth than they need?
And is the debt they incurred to build and support what used to be a system of 120,000 students still manageable, now that there are almost 15,000 fewer students to pay the bills?
Those are just a few of the thorny issues that could await the State System of Higher Education in conducting what leaders have billed as a top-to-bottom organizational review. A hint of the size and complexity of the task is contained in a request for proposals published by system officials for consultants vying to manage the undertaking.
Those consultants have until 3 p.m. today to respond.
The firm chosen will conduct a four-month study, provide interim reports and ultimately make recommendations to State System leaders, who say they want to make decisions this year. The firm must be available to meet with system officials for an additional 90 days and work with other outside organizations as needed to do its study, the document states.
Among the myriad study areas identified in the document are academic programming and how it is aligned, balancing classroom quality and cost, infrastructure demands, the effect that price has on enrollment, usefulness of shared resources, and the role of each university’s council of trustees within the system.
The “inclusive but focused process” will identify best organizational approaches and optimum “numbers of institutions, locations, necessary human resources, and requisite capital requirements,” according to the 18-page document.
“What would ‘success’ look like for the System and the universities?” the document asks.
The firm also will be expected to outline financial strategies in a competitive fundraising environment, examine collaborations with other organizations and “possible new funding streams from private resources.”
The system with 105,000 students is under increasing strain from rising personnel and operations costs, state aid stuck at 1999 levels and a declines in high school graduate numbers, in particular in Western Pennsylvania.
Chancellor Frank Brogan, in announcing the review Thursday, said the system’s current way of doing things is unsustainable. “That’s not just philosophical; it’s mathematical; and it’s only going to get worse if we don’t do something about it,” he said.
The 14 state-owned universities include: Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester.
Whatever the system decides has implications beyond the classroom and will reverberate across Pennsylvania, its workforce and economy, observers said.
Those schools with a base yearly tuition of $7,238 not counting room, board and other fees are the lowest-priced university option in a state trying to boost the share of residents who attend and graduate college. Over the years, reports have found that geography, family income and race contribute “to a persistent and signficant gap” in who attends, said Ron Cowell, a former state legislator and president of the Education Policy and Leadership Council based in Harrisburg
Some campuses sit in rural parts of the state without a community college. “There are a number of cases where our universities are essentially the only public option,” said State System spokesman Kenn Marshall.
They are major employers in their counties and provide added culture in places far removed from major cities.
Mr. Marshall said it is too soon to know what, if any, consolidation might occur. Officials have only said everything is on the table.
Mr. Cowell said that historically, the state Legislature has pushed back whenever it appeared a public campus might be in jeopardy, including a case decades ago involving the University of Pittsburgh’s Titusville branch. “The legislature wrote into (Pitt’s) appropriation money specifically for Titusville,” Mr. Cowell said.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @BschacknerPG.
First Published: January 31, 2017, 5:00 a.m.