Once upon a time in Pennsylvania, every town of a certain size or importance seemed to have its own college.
There were reasons for this. Many of these schools were started in the early half of the
19th century, when traveling 30 miles was a long haul. Leaving the old homestead in Fayette County to go away to school in Pittsburgh in 1849 would be like leaving Pennsylvania to go to school in Michigan. More schools and closer schools meant more opportunity.
And so tiny — although frequently well-respected — colleges dotted the landscape. They helped develop towns into cities and farming communities into educational centers. The colleges nurtured our businesses and were a significant part of the growth of Pennsylvania. Today, the state ranks 10th in the nation in the number of degrees awarded annually.
Unfortunately, all of those graduates don’t stay. The state also is known for its “brain drain” — people who go to school but leave for greener, better-paid pastures.
State-related universities such as Pitt and Penn State have some of the highest public school tuition in the country. Even the smaller schools — many of the ones that used to be those local colleges but were knitted together into the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education — have costs that translate to huge student loan debt and can demand higher salaries.
The state system has struggled with enrollment and costs. It has led to things like layoffs at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the Frankensteining of six universities into two consolidated learning institutions in an attempt to save money and share burdens.
The problem with this is the way it is being done. Many of the schools still really want to be the big fish in that small local pond, and it’s likely to kill them all.
In 2021, the universities in California, Clarion and Edinboro announced they would take on the new name Pennsylvania Western University, with campuses that identify their old names including PennWest California and PennWest Clarion.
But this week, the other three in the northeast made an announcement that resists that. They will be the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, but you won’t ever know that. They will continue to go by Bloomsburg University, Lock Haven University and Mansfield University, using the old logos and colors of each.
This does not solve the state system’s problem. It cuts it into chunks. Instead of one state organization that tries to manage 14 schools trying to do their own thing, the Commonwealth University becomes a microcosm of it with multiple campuses struggling to maintain their identities.
To get a happily ever after ending, the state system and the Commonwealth University should follow PennWest’s example and fuse one identity while still serving their local communities.
— Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (TNS)
