New Pa. higher ed board zeroes in on how to make college more affordable and better coordinate among colleges at hearing

Attracting more students from out of state, working closely with businesses to meet their needs and high schools to create a “college-going culture,” and offering grants to help students near college completion were some ideas floated during a hearing Thursday on higher education in Pennsylvania.

Much of the conversation centered on the need to help students afford college and ways to encourage more of them to attend at a time when the number of high school graduates in Pennsylvania is projected to decline 12% by 2037 and the higher education sector as a whole faces great challenges.

The two-hour hearing at St. Joseph’s University was the third of six being held around Pennsylvania by the new State Board of Higher Education as it forms a strategic plan to provide better coordination and access among the state’s institutions. The board intends to release a plan by Sept. 1.

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“Higher education now more than ever must grow and evolve,” said St. Joseph’s University president Cheryl McConnell, a member of the state board. “A degree or a certificate is not just a credential, it’s a catalyst. It’s the foundation upon which we will build solutions for problems we have not yet to imagine.”

There were nearly 200 participants online and in person from across the higher education sector, including community colleges and public and private four-year institutions, as well as businesses, government, and community organizations from throughout the Philadelphia region.

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Some of the ideas were concrete and specific.

“We have about 5,000 adults who can’t go to college because they have an outstanding back balance, and we can help one at a time, but what we would love to see is more of a collaborative, regional approach that could be a real solution,” said Steve Evans, vice president of development and institutional advancement at Graduate! Philadelphia, which is aimed at increasing the number of adults completing college in the city.

“And maybe there are resources available that if an institution commits to reducing 50% of their back balance, they can apply for a grant for the other 50 and get back in. So it gives the institutions an incentive to help solve the problem, but it also is a cash flow to put students in seats.”

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Others were broader.

Making sure students graduate on time is key to addressing the debt issue, said Tom Foley, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania. The issue appears to be especially acute at public schools, he said.

“I looked at the data on student debt between publicly funded institution graduates and graduates of independent nonprofit schools,” he said. “In the last 10 years, the independent nonprofit schools’ average debt was actually lower — not by much, but it was lower than the average student debt for kids from publicly funded schools. And when I look at what the reason was for that, in a lot of cases, it’s because kids are not graduating on time.”

At private schools, he said, they are more focused on providing students with additional services to make sure they graduate on time.

Kate Shaw, executive director of the board, presented the board’s six goals and asked the audience for ideas on how to achieve them. The goals are increasing degree and certificate completion, creating affordable paths to a degree, supporting economic development in Pennsylvania, supporting the state’s workforce needs, ensuring accountability and efficient use of state funds, and strengthening the fiscal health and stability of colleges.

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Several colleges in the Philadelphia region have closed or merged or announced plans to do so in recent years, including Rosemont College, Cabrini University, University of the Arts, University of the Sciences, Salus University, and Peirce College.

Chris Domes, president of Neumann University, said the school had some financial struggles following the pandemic but charted a successful course to improve, including attracting more students from out of state. Others could learn from that, he said.

“So are you suggesting that we create sort of a tool kit or a set of examples of how institutions navigate through fiscal instability and make those available to other institutions that might be interested?” Shaw asked.

“I think there is a lot of good learning out there that’s happening at institutions and it can help other colleges and universities navigate it,” he said.

Colleges need to work more closely with business and industry, some suggested.

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Anne Prisco, president of Holy Family University in Northeast Philadelphia, said the school pivoted quickly and developed a six-week certified nursing assistant program when area hospitals and senior-care facilities noted the need.

“The higher ed community is listening to — and we need to have more conversations with the employers to say — what do you need and we’ll do it. We are a nimble group of higher education institutions that are willing to serve.”

Domes said many of Neumann’s students are the first in their families to go to college, and access is an issue. Shaw pointed out that Pennsylvania ranks near the bottom in college affordability with the average student debt load at $40,000.

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“It’s not just about the programs we’re providing,” Domes said, “and the need at the employer level, but how do you convince young people that they can afford this, that they can have access to this?”

Colleges need to partner with businesses to help students find career opportunities and educate them about potential careers while they are in high school, he said.

“They don’t always know what a nurse-practitioner does,” he said. “They don’t know what the cybersecurity expert actually does. … There’s a disconnect between the understanding of what higher education means and how to get there for a lot of young people, and we have to find a way to make that gap much smaller.”

Farah Jimenez, president and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Education Fund, said the focus also needs to be on high schools, such as the large comprehensive ones in Philadelphia, where going to college is not the message that students often get.

“Anything that we can do,” she said, “to help our schools develop and implement college-going culture and sustain those would help with postsecondary credential attainment.”