PASCU
The Pennsylvania Association of State Colleges and Universities
An Appeal to
PASSHE’s College Democrats and College Republicans - Part 1
TO: The College
Democrats and the College Republicans at the 14 PASSHE Universities
FROM:
Angelo Armenti, Jr., PASCU President
DATE:
October 20, 2014
SUBJECT:
The Future of the 14 PASSHE Universities and the PASSHE Students who rely on
them
On behalf of the Pennsylvania
Association of State Colleges and Universities (PASCU), I am reaching out
to the College Democrats¹ and the College Republicans² at each of the 14 PASSHE
university campuses.
PASCU is a non-profit, non-partisan social welfare organization founded
in June of 2012. Its Mission is:
“To ensure that the statutory purpose of public higher education in
Pennsylvania as specified by Act 188 of 1982: ‘High quality education at the
lowest possible cost to the students,’ is indefinitely preserved and
faithfully delivered.”
PASCU’s primary purpose³ is to ensure that a “high quality education at
the lowest possible cost to the students,”—as promised to PASSHE students by
Act 188—does not become a meaningless platitude.
Definitions
Act 188 of 1982: The enabling legislation⁴ that
created and, as amended, statutorily controls the public corporation now known
as the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).
PASSHE: The 14-University system of
taxpayer-supported institutions of higher education that includes Bloomsburg,
California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown,
Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West
Chester Universities.
The Pennsylvania Promise: PASCU thinks of the statutory purpose of Act
188—“High quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students”—as the
“Pennsylvania Promise”—a promise
freely given by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the PASSHE students and
parents upon approval by the State Senate and the State House of
Representatives and the signing of Act 188 by Governor Thornburgh.
PASSHE’s Funding Plan: Act 188 created a two-step
process for funding the 14 PASSHE universities and from the very beginning,
that process was predicated on the presence of two very different
sources of funding: 1) State appropriation revenue, provided by the
taxpayers; and 2) Tuition + Fees + Other revenue, provided by the PASSHE
students, parents and private donors, primarily PASSHE alumni.
PASSHE’s Funding History: In terms of these two PASSHE revenue sources, the State provided 90% in 1950, 63% in 1984, and 25% in 2013 while, at the same time, the revenue share provided by students, parents and alumni donors rose from 10% to 37% to 75%! This enormous shift in the funding burden of “public” higher education in Pennsylvania—from the State to the students, parents and alumni donors— has been called “Privatization Without a Plan.” Official data show that this drastic cost-shifting has been happening relentlessly in Pennsylvania and in many other states for at least the last three decades.
PASSHE’s Funding History: In terms of these two PASSHE revenue sources, the State provided 90% in 1950, 63% in 1984, and 25% in 2013 while, at the same time, the revenue share provided by students, parents and alumni donors rose from 10% to 37% to 75%! This enormous shift in the funding burden of “public” higher education in Pennsylvania—from the State to the students, parents and alumni donors— has been called “Privatization Without a Plan.” Official data show that this drastic cost-shifting has been happening relentlessly in Pennsylvania and in many other states for at least the last three decades.
Majority
Financial Stakeholders: The PASSHE
students, parents and private donors, primarily alumni now collectively provide
75% of PASSHE’s annual operating revenue.
Students and Parents provide 70% of the annual operating revenue while
private donors, primarily PASSHE alumni, now provide 5%.
Minority
Financial Stakeholder: The
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the person of the State’s elected officials,
now provides 25% of PASSHE’s annual operating revenue.
Majority
Governance Stakeholder: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the person of
the State’s elected officials, continues to control 100% of PASSHE’s 174
governance seats at the tables where all key PASSHE decisions are made. That includes 20 out of 20 seats on the Board
of Governors, as well as 154 out of 154 seats on the Councils of Trustees
spread across the 14 PASSHE universities.
Minority
Governance Stakeholders: The PASSHE
Students, Parents and Alumni Donors who control 0% of PASSHE’s 174 governance
seats at the tables where all key decisions affecting them are made.
Funding/Governance
Disparity: The disparity between the
Funding Shares and the Governance Shares of different financial stakeholders. For example, the Minority Financial
Stakeholder, the State, has a funding/governance ratio of 25%/100%, while the
Majority Financial Stakeholders, the Students, Parents and private donors,
primarily PASSHE alumni, have a funding/governance ratio of 75%/0%.
Privatization:
A rapid defunding of public higher education by the State. This defunding is happening to varying
degrees across America and results from powerful forces, both demographic
(primarily an aging population) and economic (a weak recovery with high
unemployment and stagnant wages).
Privatization
Without a Plan: The rapid defunding
of public higher education by the State in the absence of an effective plan to
preserve and deliver the Act 188 statutory purpose: High quality education at
the lowest possible cost to the students.⁵
Privatization
Without Representation: The rapid
defunding of public higher education by the State (the Minority Financial
Stakeholder), which shifts the cost of education to the Students, Parents and
private donors, primarily alumni (the Majority Financial Stakeholders), while
the State nevertheless retains 100% control of PASSHE’s governance seats where
all key decisions affecting all stakeholders are made.
(To be continued.)
Sincerely,
Angelo
Armenti, Jr., Ph.D.
PASCU
Founder & President
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