Exiting chancellor of Pa.'s state-owned universities encouraged by enrollment numbers

Enrollment across Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities appears essentially flat this fall versus last — an elusive milestone for a system now 30% smaller after 13 consecutive yearly declines since 2010, Chancellor Daniel Greenstein said.

The State System of Higher Education expects to release official numbers early next week. Greenstein told TribLive on Friday that what he’s already seen leaves him confident that headcount systemwide will be largely stable, at least for 2024-25.

He expects a loss of fewer than 180 students from fall 2023’s total enrollment of 82,688, or a small fraction of a percentage point.

“This will bounce around, but not significantly,” Greestein said. “As of today, we’re down, I think 170-something students.

“I’m super psyched,” he said.

Greenstein leaves office effective next Friday for a higher education consulting job after a transformative but sometimes controversial six-year tenure.

It saw improved state legislative support for the universities and greater campus collaboration but also unpopular campus mergers in the west and northeast.

In recent days, Western Pennsylvania’s three State System universities collectively reported a 600-plus student drop.

Slippery Rock University gained 32 students, which amounts to less than a percentage point. But that was offset by a decline at Pennsylvania Western University of 471 students (4.1%), to 10,834, on its California, Clarion and Edinboro campuses.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania saw its total enrollment decline by 1.9%, or 173 students. That’s 9,081 students compared to 9,254 in fall 2023.

Greenstein said the deeply flawed rollout of the revised federal form needed for financial aid, FAFSA, may not have had as much negative impact on enrollment as initially feared across the system.

The rate of Pennsylvanians completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is running 9% behind last year’s pace, but impact on first-year enrollment has been smaller — a 5% loss.

”We almost completely made up for it with growth in graduate enrollment transfer students and — best news — student retention,” Greenstein said.

For years, enrollment across the Northeast and Midwest has been depressed by population declines, fewer high school graduates and skepticism about the value and expense of a four-year degree versus learning a trade.

Pennsylvania, particularly in the west, has been hit hard by population loss that has translated into empty classroom seats and unused dorm rooms.

“For the last decade, we’ve been declining at, like, 3,000 a year. Last year we got to 2,000,” Greenstein said.

So losing fewer than 180 students, he said, “is fantastic.”

A price freeze that spanned his tenure may have helped.

After six consecutive yearly votes to freeze rates, yearly tuition remains at $7,716 a year for Pennsylvania undergraduates, a figure unchanged from when the rate was set in 2018-19.

Next Thursday, on what will be Greenstein’s final day, the State System board of governors holds its fall meeting. The fall meeting is typically when the board unveils what it will ask the state legislature for in next year’s budget.

In addition to the Western Pennsylvania campuses, the system universities include Cheyney, Commonwealth University, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Millersville, Shippensburg and West Chester.