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More than two dozen faculty members this month received letters of intent to retrench that could take effect at the end of the 2023–24 academic year. APSCUF is working at the state and university levels to find alternatives to cuts. Click here to read today’s release.

As required by Act 50 of 2020, Chancellor Daniel Greenstein updated legislators about Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education’s consolidations, redesign and funding at joint appropriation- and education-committee hearings Tuesday and Wednesday. Click here to watch footage from the Oct. 26 Senate hearing. Click here to watch footage from the Oct. 27 House hearing.

Read APSCUF’s collated tweets from the Oct. 26 and 27 hearings below:

This post has been updated to include the Oct. 27 hearing.

The Oct. 13–14 Board of Governors meeting took place in person and via Zoom and is streaming via YouTube. Below are APSCUF President Dr. Jamie Martin’s comments as prepared.

Chairwoman Shapira, Chancellor Greenstein, governors, university presidents and guests,

As always, I appreciate the opportunity to present remarks on behalf of the nearly 5,000 faculty and coaches that APSCUF represents. I would like to focus on a number of interrelated issues this afternoon: the enrollments at our universities, the funding of our universities, and the affordability of our universities.

Let’s start with the first: the enrollment numbers for the current academic year. We learned that enrollment dropped by approximately 5.4% systemwide and that the decline in enrollment was more significant at a number of universities. After about a 2% decline in enrollment last year, I am not surprised to see an ongoing pandemic effect. There may be some students who did not enroll in in-person classes because of concerns about pivoting to online learning. It is possible that some of our students’ parents are out of work or that students may have stayed in the workforce full time because of the number of jobs available now. It is possible that the uncertainty surrounding the consolidation played a role in the decline at the universities involved in this plan, and that retrenchments on our campuses had an impact. But what we are seeing here is similar to what is happening nationwide, and I expect that we will see the trend reverse in the next academic year. I am asking all of us — collectively — to not push the panic button. If our current and prospective students and their families see us panic, it could have a deleterious effect on next year’s enrollments.

Act 188 of 1982 was the enabling legislation for Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. This legislation laid out, among other things, the purpose of our universities:

“The State System of Higher Education shall be part of the Commonwealth’s system of higher education. Its purpose shall be to provide high quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students.”

To accomplish this mission, the State System must be appropriately funded: The General Assembly must be willing to invest in our students. The support for the State System reached a highwater mark in 2010–11 of around $503 million — and then we suffered an 18% cut in appropriations from which we are still trying to recover. While we appreciate the funding that we do receive, the fact of the matter is that in the last 20 years, support for PASSHE has increased by only 1.25%.

Not surprisingly, the percentage of the cost of attendance that is covered by state appropriations has decreased dramatically. In 1990, state appropriations covered nearly 75% of the cost of attendance for our students. Last year, that amount dropped to approximately 24%. Think about that for a moment: Students are now responsible for 75% of the cost of attendance — at our state-owned universities. It is true that the cost of attendance at our universities has outpaced inflation, but the appropriations that PASSHE receives have not come close to trending with inflation. In fact, if they had kept pace, the current appropriations should be around $740 million.

So, what does this mean for the students of our Commonwealth? The ones who were promised by Act 188 the ability to attend a state-owned university and to receive a high quality education at the lowest possible cost. It means that these universities are no longer affordable for them. Can we ponder for a moment what the lack of affordability may mean to them?

Does it impact their ability to afford their books or technology? Does it impact their ability to afford to take an unpaid internship that could greatly benefit their career trajectory? Does it impact their ability to afford enough food, to afford to get enough sleep as they work multiple jobs, or to afford to be enrolled full time? After graduation, does it mean the inability to afford a car, or a home, or a family as they pay off mountains of student debt?

Affordability can mean many different things to many students, but I firmly believe that this is a contributing factor to our enrollment decline. Most importantly, research shows that the lack of affordability is disproportionately impacting students from primarily from low-income backgrounds, students of color and first-generation students — and these are the students that our system should be serving.

We are at an inflection point, and a very important question must be addressed: Are the universities in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education state-owned and state-supported universities — or not? Pennsylvania ranks 47th out of 50 states in per-capita investment in higher education. Again, we are at an inflection point: The State System needs to be adequately funded — or we should stop pretending that we are a state-supported system.

I believe that the enrollment decline is the result of a perfect storm. The ongoing pandemic has wreaked havoc, and I think we are witnessing pandemic fatigue among our students. There is uncertainty on some of our campuses, and the fact that our state-owned universities are not adequately funded by the Commonwealth does not help enrollment. When students must take on tens of thousands of dollars of debt, enrolling in our universities is a more difficult financial decision. I’m fearful about what is going to happen moving forward: Inadequate funding only fuels a self-fulfilling prophecy and a vicious cycle of enrollment decline.

Tomorrow, the chancellor will present to the BOG his recommendation for the appropriations request for PASSHE. We hope that he will recommend a significant increase in funding for our universities and that the board will support it. As you know, APSCUF has always been a strong advocate for additional funding for our State System, and we will continue that work — and we are willing to work in tandem with the State System to make the case for the need for it.

Thank you again for the opportunity to offer remarks today.

The Sept. 22 Board of Governors meeting took place via Zoom and streamed via YouTube. Below are APSCUF President Dr. Jamie Martin’s comments as prepared.

Chairwoman Shapira, Chancellor Greenstein, governors, university presidents and guests,

Today this board will consider approving seven side-letter agreements to our collective bargaining agreement. One side letter applies to all 14 of our universities and will ensure faculty and students are provided with stability over the next few years. The remaining six are applicable to the six universities that are slated for consolidation. The APSCUF legislative assembly ratified all of the side letters at its meeting on Friday, Sept. 10, and we encourage you to approve them today.

We appreciate the spirit of cooperation that led to these agreements, but it required approximately eight months of negotiations to get to this ratification vote today. I highlight this because the side-letter agreements that pertain to California, Clarion, Edinboro, Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities are just the first six side letters we have negotiated. They represent important articles in our collective bargaining agreement, and they will permit the development of the curriculum to begin, provide clarity regarding the leadership of academic departments, and specify the procedures that will be in place as faculty members progress in their careers. But, I must note that there is much still to do. By our count, there are at least 13 other articles we must bargain over because they will be affected by consolidation. We will continue to negotiate with the State System on the other affected articles in our collective bargaining agreement in the months ahead. But, in short, there is a long road ahead.

At the July Board of Governors meeting, I highlighted many issues and questions that must be addressed prior to the consolidation of these six universities — an action that is scheduled to occur in 10 months. Questions remain about Middle States accreditation and accredited programs on our campuses. We still await the decision of the NCAA permitting athletic teams to remain on all six campuses. Students and faculty remain wary of the number of online classes that may be required to complete a degree. We anticipate that work on the curriculum will soon begin, but we know that the plan is for a three-year implementation of the curriculum array, and it is our belief that it will take that long.

There remains much uncertainty and anxiety regarding consolidation on these six campuses, among the students (both current and prospective), faculty and staff. This process — coupled with the retrenchments that occurred at four of our campuses last year and the threats of retrenchment this year — has left many feeling defeated, and all of this is happening while faculty struggle to offer face-to-face classes in a safe way amidst the ongoing pandemic. The combination of these things has negatively impacted morale on a number of our universities. I can tell you from my visits to our campuses and meetings with our chapter presidents that our faculty are exhausted as they begin this new academic year: This is not typical, and that makes it alarming. I urge the university presidents here today to recognize the legitimacy of these feelings among our faculty, as you call upon them to do some heavy lifting in the coming months.

I began my comments today speaking about the spirit of cooperation, and I want to end on that note. We can all agree that the mission of our universities is to provide access to an affordable, high-quality education for the students of our Commonwealth and beyond. As faculty and coaches, we see firsthand how critical affordability is for our students and student-athletes. We know the importance of increased funding for our universities — and for the students enrolled in them. I pledge today that APSCUF will continue to work with the State System in advocating for the funding necessary to keep the promise of affordability and access to a high-quality education for students from all backgrounds.

Thank you for your time, and I wish all of you and your families continued good health.

Noah Stewart with his dad, Dr. Richard Stewart, after graduating in May 2021. Photo/Submitted

Shippensburg University student Noah Stewart is the 2021 award winner of State APSCUF’s $3,000 scholarship, selected by APSCUF’s special-services committee. Stewart is the son of Shippensburg APSCUF member Associate Professor Richard Stewart. The scholarship recipient is a graduate biology major. Click here to read more about him.

APSCUF offers a scholarship to relatives of APSCUF or APSCURF members in good standing. The 2021 application will be available in late 2021 on the Students page of the APSCUF website.