Study: State-run universities must be merged, converted to remain viable

The Pennsylvania state university system needs drastic restructuring in order for its 14 campuses to overcome and survive the enrollment losses and chronic state funding shortages that have weakened it, according to a new study conducted by the Rand Corp. for the Pennsylvania legislature.

Modest changes to the status quo likely are not enough to stabilize the 102,000-student system, the study's authors concluded Wednesday in a presentation to members of the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee in Harrisburg.

They suggested instead some combination of the following:

▪ Merging the 14 universities regionally, reducing their ranks to as few as five to eight.

▪ Converting the universities to state-related status, like the University of Pittsburgh or Pennsylvania State University.

▪ Putting the State System universities under the management of a state-related school for a period of time, perhaps 10 years.

▪ Merging the state-related universities to become branches of the state-related schools.

"Our research indicates a continuation of the current system … is unlikely to address these challenges fully," said Charles Goldman, chief economist with Rand Corp., in testimony before the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee.

"Instead, we recommend major structural changes," he said. "These options are likely to be more difficult to implement … and could entail other risks."

Goldman noted, for example, that if State System universities become independent state-related universities or merged with state-related institutions, they could lose sovereign immunity from lawsuits, which might lead to increased student costs.

For in-state undergraduates, State System tuition was $7,492 for 2017-18, not counting fees and room and board.

In addition, he said such changes could affect transparency and collective bargaining agreements with faculty and other unions.

State System Interim Chancellor Karen Whitney, who appeared before the committee Wednesday, said the universities have already begun to make real change as a result of their own review.

The State System last year conducted its own strategic review and brought in a different consultant, the Boulder, Colo.-based National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS).

The NCHEMS report released in July stopped short of recommending any closures or outright mergers of the 14 universities. But it said those in the most tenuous place should be reconfigured, and suggested administrative and academic program consolidation.

It also said the system needed a governance overhaul, recommending the current board of governors be abolished and replaced with one whose members had fewer ties to the universities.

NCHEMS also suggested revisions in price policies, including ending the single tuition rate across the State System and giving individual campuses more say over collective bargaining.

System officials said they already have begun realigning academic programs to meet regional needs and provide universities greater flexibility.

The 14 universities enrolled 102,000 students last fall, down from a high of nearly 120,000 in 2010. A range of factors, including population declines and student retention woes, have contributed to the problem.

The schools in the system are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities.