Affordable quality higher education is a vital issue that is especially deserving of thoughtful discussion. When I and a bipartisan group of senators stated our support of Senate Bill 1275 (allowing West Chester University to go from state-owned to state-related), we did so in the hope of starting such a dialogue. I am delighted that the discussion has begun, but dismayed that a few on both sides have used caustic hyperbole to state their views. This is too important a matter for such types of commentary.
I am writing this column to set a context in which meaningful solution-oriented discussion can occur. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is faced with three real problems: fiscal, demographic, and the impact of change—that have to be resolved or the system will collapse on its own.
Fiscal: At the senate appropriations hearing, the State System Chancellor explained that the system needs $61 million more than the governor budgeted and will certainly have a 3 percent tuition increase even more if that money is not provided.
While I and others have fought for more funding, the money is currently not in the state coffers, and any distribution of current and new funds for education requires a King Solomon-type of decision. Please understand that the Pennsylvania Constitution requires that the first legislative budget obligation is to fund the K-12 public schools. Remember, every dollar taken away from K-12 schools results in an increase in local school property taxes. The remaining state funds face two types of competition: The first is between the community colleges, the state-owned and state-related universities; The second is from an increasing number of advocates who believe the focus should be on funding early childhood (pre-school) education.
Senate Bill 1275 is one attempt to find answers for state-owned universities in this fiscally challenged environment. It allows those universities like West Chester – that are growing, fiscally stable and can maintain their low tuition rates – to become state-related schools. In return, these institutions need to provide to the remaining state-owned schools, over a 30-year period, the depreciated value of the land and buildings that were paid for by the state. This is just one solution and all fiscal solutions are welcome and need to be examined.
Demographics: There are 7,200 fewer students in the state system today than there were in 2009; that means 7,200 fewer tuitions payments and this adds to the fiscal dilemma. The projection for the 2014-15 school year is even more disappointing: the estimated decrease will grow to 8,200 fewer students. Only two of the 14 state universities have grown and West Chester has grown the most significantly. Part of the demographic problem is a national decline in the number of students and part stems from the fact there are fewer students graduating from Pennsylvania high schools west of the Susquehanna River today than there were in the 1990s.
Constant Change: In today’s context, all institutions have to adapt and be responsive to constant change. More and more of higher education is being delivered virtually and state-system schools need to respond to the changes in the delivery of higher education. We have no choice but to confront rapid change. Unfortunately, it is a given that people want to ignore. Change is a great teacher, but nobody wants to take its class.
About three years ago, after the first budget cuts, Governor Corbett appointed an Advisory Commission on Higher Education. A year later, their report was issued. That report lays gathering dust on endless desks in Harrisburg because no one wants to deal with fiscal demographic and change realities. The report bluntly stated:
“In recognition of an overall decline in the rate of growth of post secondary institutions, competition for funding, potential duplication of services and geographically underserved areas, efforts must be focused on the efficient and effective delivery of services and the sustainability of our post secondary system into the future.”
If Senate Bill 1275 has already encouraged a discussion on the sustainability of higher education, then the bill has accomplished an important purpose. High praise is due to the WCU faculty union for already providing a draft proposal of solutions. If the State System Board can come up with a strategic plan to give institutions that are blossoming the freedom to continue to do so and provide other institutions that are hurting with a new repurposed mission that will enable them to survive, then the bill has, in essence, accomplished its goal and is no longer necessary. In fact, a dialogue to achieve that end with the chancellor and state system board is currently taking place.
Any discussions need to go beyond just the state-owned universities and address the costs, duplication and effectiveness of the byzantine structure that is higher education is Pennsylvania. Many other states have a coordinating council for higher education. I have been reviewing what other states do in order to introduce such legislation in Pennsylvania.
Caustic hyperbole without presenting solutions will not solve the problem of providing a sustainable system of affordable education. We in Chester County have the highest education levels in the Commonwealth and, as a result, we understand the urgency and importance of adjusting to change. Let us sit an example for others in the Commonwealth by presenting a plethora of ideas and solutions with the civility and respect for ideas that our own higher education opportunity provided us. Let us so do as we work to assure sustainable and affordable higher education for our children and grandchildren.
Andy Dinniman, of West Whiteland, is state Senator for Pennsylvania’s 19th Senatorial District.