Controversy Over PSU Expansion Continues
Continued from Page 1
tain areas of the curriculum.”
Administrators remain uncertain about
if or when PSH will offer all four years of
education in every program. “We probably
have enough courses that a student could
complete all four years here,” said Dr.
Susan Richman, interim associate dean for
academic affairs.
Richman said this does not happen now
because although the college offers many
courses which apply to all majors, the
number may still be too low.
Furthermore, PSH offers its general
education courses on weekends or at night,
which often poses scheduling challenges
for students.
The college plans to eventually use a
four-year approach for graduates of the
engineering and information systems tech
nology programs.
If PSH does become a four-year school, “Many students we get from branch
Mahar said it would help many more stu- campus communities will elect to stay
dents earn a degree. “By having four-year home if they can get a four-year education
programs and colleges closer to the centers there,” Pettit said.
of population, this approach allows educa- In fact, lUP’s applications from Blair
tion to regionalize, and campuses can have County dropped by 50% following Penn
distinct missions,” he said. State-Altoona’s conversion.
Richman added that expansion could Presidents at other local schools
energize campus life with a higher number expressed concern over duplication of aca
of residential and more degree dejnic programs as Penn State’s growth
choices. continues.
Money presents one of the biggest chal- For example, Henderson told The
lenges to acade- Patriot-News Point
mic expansion “Penn State’s philosophy is Park has g ained
here. Faculty did . 11 majons Q f f he o/ofp students in ever y
not want to spec- 10 i>GrvG a " regions OT We Slate ma j or except e„gi
uiate about the more or less equally, not to neering technology
cost of such a com p e f e w jfp s f a f e schools Or and informa ti°n
measure. Mahar . . technology, which
only said the col- priVdte Universities. Penn State offers,
lege “does not York College
have the resources” to consider it now.
Along with tuition hikes, the state legis
lature would help finance the growth of
PSH or any other satellite campus. State
lawmakers increased their financial sup
port of the university by 5 percent this year.
That translates to almost $l5 million more
than last year, Langan said.
Mahar said, however, that this is the
smallest increase in the last decade.
Although Penn State gets more state
money than any other state school.
Richman said the university gets less
per student than any other state-owned or
state-related school because Penn State’s
enrollment has climbed more than that of
other schools.
Members of the State System of Higher
Education, including Shippensburg and
Millersville, now receive $4,600 per stu
dent from Pennsylvania.
The state provides $4,700 for Pitt stu
dents, and $6,200 per student at Temple,
whereas Penn State gets $3,000 less than
the Philadelphia-based university.
“These numbers should tell you Penn
State isn’t getting special treatment from
the legislature,” Richman said.
Availability of faculty is another reason
why PSH has no firm plans to expand its
programs.
“If we had the same number of students
and all four years, we’d have half as many
juniors and seniors with the same number
of faculty,” Richman said. “We probably
wouldn’t be able to sustain many of our
specialty programs.”
However, officials at other local col
leges and universities worry that as the
number of four-year academic degrees
offered by Penn State’s divisions grows,
enrollment at their schools will decline.
Dr. Lawrence Pettit, president of Indiana
University of Pennsylvania, listed his
school’s main competitors as Pitt and Penn
State’s main campus. However, lUP is
located near several satellite campuses
including Altoona, McKeesport, and New
Kensington.
has also felt the impact of Penn State offer
ing similar programs. Approx-imately one
mile separates York College from Penn
State-York, and the proximity has hurt,
according to York College President
George Waldner.
Waldner told The Patriot-News that
since Penn State-York started its four-year
business program two years ago, his
school’s part-time enrollment has fallen
from 1,489 students to 1,210 in 1998-99.
Most of the students who left York
College for its Penn State counterpart were
business majors. “What’s the subtext
there?” Waldner asked. “Don’t go to no
name York College. Go to Penn State.”
Although officials at other local colleges
also expressed concern about their ability
to compete with Penn State’s name and
reputation, Richman stressed that they
would not be the only schools affected.
The growth of some of the university’s
satellite campuses could lower enrollment
at PSH.
“One thing we do,” she said, “is offer
degrees with specializations, such as
finance, marketing, and management.
Adding four-year degrees at other Penn
State locations affects Penn State-
Harrisburg as much as any other local col
lege or university.”
Penn State President Graham Spanier
was unavailable for comment to the criti
cism. But in an article from the University
Relations section of the Web site
(psu.edu/ur/archives/intercom_l996/Feb29
/plan.html),' Spanier said, “This plan is
about students and creating opportunities
for students, particularly location-bound
students, to acquire an education.
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