PASSHE board: Affordability a concern for enrollment
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education's Board of Governors voted to request $550 million in state funding for the next fiscal year, an amount that will allow the 14 universities in the system to operate effectively while remaining affordable.
One of the chief concerns during the board of governors' quarterly meeting Wednesday and Thursday was declining enrollment that hit almost all of the universities in the system. Members agreed the coronavirus pandemic affected general access to college through economic and safety concerns, and that affordability should remain a priority to encourage students to pursue higher education.
“We're losing more students annually to higher education institutions in other states where they can get a lower price,” said Dan Greenstein, chancellor of PASSHE. “Pennsylvanian's enrollment in higher education institutions falls further and further behind the national average. It's too expensive, and so people aren't going.”
Slippery Rock University, which is part of the PASSHE system, saw a 5.1% decrease in total enrollment this semester compared to last year. The university reported that it currently has 8,424 students enrolled, including a record-breaking 1,503 graduate students.
Amanda Yale, chief enrollment officer at SRU, said the drop this semester was somewhat expected because of the pandemic, and the numbers are already “turning the corner.” Having students on campus reentering in-person activities is one of the biggest drivers, Yale said.
“I think doing things in person makes a difference, having students and families bring their families is a huge difference,” she said. “We have already turned the corner and I think our prospective students and families are excited to get reconnected to the college experience.”
Greenstein's concern of students leaving the state for affordable education also extended to concerns about workforce accessibility and diversity throughout the state. A news release from PASSHE said students who graduate from a state system university tend to find a job in the state, 71% three years after graduation and 63% 10 years out, which is another motivator to increase enrollment. Greenstein wrote in his presentation that shrinking college enrollment exacerbates Pennsylvania's workforce development crisis.
Jamie Martin, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, spoke during PASSHE's Wednesday meeting. She said affordability is an issue that could divert a plethora of people from attending college.
“The lack of affordability is primarily affecting low-income, students of color, first-timers — and these are the ones we should be serving,” Martin said.
Greenstein said the PASSHE administrators are aware of the financial challenges faced by prospective students, especially those exiting high school in a position to potentially enter college.
“We have invested significantly in affordability,” Greenstein said. “The board has frozen tuition three years in a row and has increased student aid.”
Yale also said SRU always increases the amount of financial aid available to students, and has never reduced it. She said the university would award approximately $1.7 million in financial aid this year.
Additionally, keeping enrolled students at the university has been steady over the past few years, so getting new students has been the big challenge.
“Our students who are continuous, our retention rates are very similar to what they were,” Yale said.
Greenstein said in the meeting that keeping students enrolled is nothing to scoff at, but attention is on getting new students to fill graduating ones' shoes.
“The students that you have are the ones you really want to keep,” Greenstein said. “It is less expensive to keep a student than to get a new one.”
Yale also said SRU is made up mostly of students who come from within a 100-mile radius. Yale said SRU may not have been hit as hard by a decline in enrollment last year because of the large number of local students.
“We're very regionally based,” she said. “We have a lot of students from contiguous states; Ohio, west New York, West Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland. We did lose a lot of eastern Pennsylvania last year.”
Despite the decline this year, Yale said the outlook for future enrollment at SRU is positive, even for as early as next semester.
“Our visits to campus are really up,” Yale said. “We are over 370 applications up over last year. We hope to be back to where we were before the pandemic.”
