State system colleges are crucial to Pennsylvania

(AP) Whether the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education's day of reckoning has arrived is a question best left to study and debate.
And the state Legislature should make sure it is a part of any debate about the future of PASSHE, which includes universities in Kutztown, Millersville and West Chester.
In his State of the System speech last week in Harrisburg, Chancellor Frank Brogan said the system's current operating model is unsustainable and that school mergers and closures must be on the table as the system engages in a strategic review of its future.
“Every bit of this system — as great as it's been over the years — has to be examined," he said. “From how we operate the office of the chancellor to how we're organized as a system no preconceptions and no limits."
The reason the Legislature needs to be part of any discussion about the system's future is one of the two key issues Brogan and PASSHE board Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira raised during the breakfast meeting last week.
State spending on the system is at 1999 levels and $60 million less than before the 2008 recession, the two said. And compared with 63 percent of operating costs when the system started in 1983, the state now provides 27 percent, they said.
The state system presumably exists to provide affordable higher education for Pennsylvania residents. If it does so, it is a good investment in the future economic health of the state.
The PASSHE's other challenge is declining enrollment. This fall saw a sixth consecutive annual loss in student numbers. Enrollment at its 14 schools is down by 12 percent — 21 percent at Kutztown — since it totaled nearly 120,000 students in 2010. Some campuses have seen drops of 30 percent or more.
While declining enrollment is happening across higher education — the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported last year that enrollment declined by 1.4 percent overall among undergraduate and fall-term students — it is, as Brogan acknowledged last week, a challenge that cannot be ignored.
If our state system does not offer students value, declines in enrollment will no doubt continue. And, likewise, if the state Legislature doesn't help make it affordable, fewer will be able to afford what is an indisputable contributor to lifetime earnings. The Federal Reserve Board of San Francisco put the value of a college degree at $830,800 over what the average high school graduate would earn if both retired at age 67.
PASSHE has tried to provide offerings matching the needs of students and the workforce, Brogan said, pointing to 200 new minors, concentrations or certificates added and 70 minors dropped at system schools in recent years.
Brogan's openness to any solution that makes sense is healthy but, given that these schools are in the state system, the Legislature should not leave the review to the PASSHE and the consulting firm it plans to name. Lawmakers should do their own homework, comparing Pennsylvania's system with those of other states and reviewing whatever plan comes out of the strategic review Brogan promised.
The goal should be to preserve, to the extent possible, existing institutions for what they mean to the communities and regions they serve and make sure those schools are able to carry out their mission of educating future citizens and workers at an affordable price.
The Reading Eagle