Last week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (D.C.) released a grim report “Recent Deep State Higher Education Cuts May Harm Students and the Economy for Years to Come” that highlighted the impact of drastic cuts to higher education nationwide following the 2008-9 recession. According to the report, these cuts will have a negative impact on our nation’s long-term recovery. 

One of the biggest attractors of businesses to a region is the quality and education of its workforce. Although tax rates, access to infrastructure, and low utility costs are important magnets for business investment, so is an educated workforce.

The other side of this economic development plan is that an educated workforce generates middle-class jobs that sustain an economic recovery. For instance, according to the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, by 2018, 62 percent of all jobs will require some form of college education, up from 28 percent in 1973.

Today the PASSHE Board of Governors unanimously approved ratification of both tentative contract agreements with APSCUF faculty and coaches.  It was a long, challenging negotiations process, but APSCUF and PASSHE reached agreements that were fair to faculty, coaches, and students.

Both negotiations teams and the negotiations committee appreciate the overwhelming support from faculty and coaches during the process and the strong showing of solidarity at the PASSHE Board of Governors meeting in January. Because of our collective efforts, we were able to settle contracts with the State System that preserve quality public higher education for our students.

Today faculty members belonging to the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) ratified a tentative contract agreement between APSCUF and the State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).

Over 95 percent of the faculty who voted supported the ratification. A simple majority vote was needed to ratify the contract.

“Faculty members at our universities are dedicated to providing students with a high quality education. The overwhelming support for this agreement illustrates the commitment our faculty have to our students and our institutions,” said Dr. Steve Hicks, president of APSCUF. “This is a balanced contract that preserves and maintains quality public higher education in the Commonwealth.”

On Monday, March 4, Peter Garland, Acting Chancellor of the State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), testified before the House Appropriations Committee about PASSHE’s budgetary needs. On Tuesday he offered similar testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee. While there was a wide range of topics discussed at the two hearings, many of the questions from legislators focused on how PASSHE was able to the meet the needs of the universities with a limited budget.

In early February, Governor Corbett announced that the state’s higher education institutions, including the state-related institutions, PASSHE universities, and community colleges, would receive flat funding in exchange for keeping tuition increases “as low as possible.” Flat funding this year still means that the State System has experienced a loss of $90 million since the governor took office.

By Doug Brown, Public Policy Researcher, and Sean Kitchen, APSCUF intern

The University of Phoenix is facing probation by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges because of the for-profit university’s “lack of autonomy” from parent company and main shareholder, the Apollo Group. According to Inside Higher Ed, after completing its review the Commission originally planned to place the university on “notice”- a much lighter sanction - but changed course due to concerns about the ability of its board of directors to independently manage the university outside of Apollo and in a way that ensures integrity and supports an educational mission. The University of Phoenix accounts of 90 percent of the Apollo Group’s total revenue.

The report also cited low retention and graduation rates at Phoenix, overreliance on federal aid as a revenue source, and the lack of sufficient assessment of learning outcomes.
Company representatives for Apollo claim that Phoenix has become more autonomous since its last accreditation review in 2002, and “believe that it is neither remarkable nor improper for a parent corporation to exercise appropriate influence over its wholly owned subsidiary.” The Apollo Group conducted an internal report, which claimed that the university is “well resourced and innovative” and has received praise for its “high level of student services and related technology.”

This university’s accreditation issues, on top of the recent Senate report on for-profits’ practices and a multi-state Attorneys General investigation, highlight why promoting and fighting for public higher education as the protector of academic integrity and advancement is important more now than ever. Corporations like Apollo want to make education a profit-making business, but quality higher education is a public good that is supposed to serve society, not a corporation’s bottom line.

Below is the text of a press release announcing the approval of the new contract between APSCUF coaches and PASSHE:

Today the coaches at the 14 state-owned universities approved a new contract with the State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The contract would cover 400 coaches represented by the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF).

Over 97 percent of the coaches who voted approved ratification of the contract. The PASSHE Board of Governors must also vote on the agreement.

Since it’s February 12th, we are celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. One of Lincoln’s long-lasting achievements was the signing of the Morrill Land Act of 1862, which created the land grant university system – and public higher education – in this country. The author of the Act—Congressman Justin Smith Morrill—envisioned public higher education “in every State upon a sure and perpetual foundation, accessible to all, but especially to the sons of toil”.

Unfortunately, the dream of the Morrill Act is being undermined as funding for public higher education has become the main source of discretionary cuts in state budgets. Instead of Morrill (and Lincoln’s) vision of the public good of higher education, we have a vision that includes higher tuition, increasing student debt, less accessibility, and a lower quality of education than generations before.