SNHU becomes Pennsylvania's biggest university?

[Hibush]

This topic is related to the thread Colleges in Dire Financial Straits, because this action could be a fatal economic stab to many small four-year colleges in Pennsylvania. The specifics are substantial enough that I'm starting a separate one for the events in Baja New England.

CHE's Goldie Blumenstyck has a nice analysis of the momentous move. https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Gloves-Are-Off-What-a/247854

In short, Southern New Hampshire, and giant online university, made a deal with the community college system that allows students to transfer to SNHU painlessly and to finish their degrees there more easily and cheaply than at normal Pennsylvania colleges.

The Pennsylvania legislature has made sure that many of the pseudo-public four-year colleges are high cost and unable to update their offerings. They will now be in an even worse position for competing for transfer students.

One perspective is that higher education, as a whole, got even healthier in Pennsylvania. There are thriving institutions, like SNHU, that are building enrollment fast. The uncompetitive schools lose out, but that is how the market is supposed to word. The whole educational landscape for students is good.

Of course, for faculty employment in Pennsylvania, the situation is crummy and just got crummier.

How do Pennsylvania legislators feel about this? They have been underfunding the schools for years; is this a consequence that is coming back to bite them. Or was it the plan all along to get the state out of higher ed?

[Cheerful]

Thanks.  Noteworthy.

I skimmed the article and your post quickly, so maybe I missed it -- no discussion of education quality?  The article emphasizes cost, convenience, and credit transfer concerns.  Any quality concerns?

[dr_codex]

The point the jumped out at me is SNHU accepting up to 90 transfer credits. Most schools aren't going to want to do that, although being a finishing school is better than not being a school at all.

[spork]

Here is Inside Higher Ed's story: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/10/snhu-steps-state-level-competition.

The partnership with SNHU reminds me of several things:

• There are too many public campuses in Pennsylvania given the state's population.
• The majority of college students are not in the "just graduated from high school, want the four-year residential campus experience of yore" demographic.
• State government support of higher education in Pennsylvania has declined substantially over the last three decades, with costs displaced to the private sector. Tuition has risen to cover operational expenses and the bonds that were issued to finance construction sprees.
• For many actual or potential college students, cost and distance from home are the major influences on enrollment decisions. For many state residents, SNHU's online operation beats out PASSHE and Penn State options on both criteria.

I am reminded of the enrollment decisions of two people I know. One is a dental hygienist. I asked her "What got you interested in this career path?" Her response: "I got divorced, had two young children, and needed a job. This one pays well and required only two years at community college." The other person is my wife; she has a PhD in one field but wanted an MA in another, closely-related field. When she contacted the graduate admissions offices of universities in the region, she was told that all their programs were solely for full-time grad students with courses on campus during weekdays. So she obviously didn't enroll at any of them. Contrast the approach of those universities with that of Georgia Tech and its online MS degree in computer science, which has now enrolled thousands of students.

[Aster]

It is perhaps important to note that it is extremely rare for a professor employed by a for-profit/fake non-profit university to participate in the mainstream Higher Education discussion boards. Neither here, the older CHE forums, the comments discussion from Inside Higher Ed (and the old CHE), etc... it's not even a trickle.

The silence is so absolute that I sometimes wonder if the for-profit/fake for-profit universities even employ professors at all. Perhaps the professors are just bots.

Or it's so awesome to work at these institutions that everything is perfect.

Or maybe there is no internet there.

[apl68]

How do Pennsylvania legislators feel about this? They have been underfunding the schools for years; is this a consequence that is coming back to bite them. Or was it the plan all along to get the state out of higher ed?

The more neoliberal/libertarian among them might just as soon stop spending money on higher education.  But any of them who pays attention to constituents is going to find that all these underfunded schools dotted around the state have local constituencies who aren't going to be happy if campuses start folding.  This is probably another case where there's no need to suspect conspiracy or malice, when simple shortsightedness could explain things just as well.

[dr_codex]

It is perhaps important to note that it is extremely rare for a professor employed by a for-profit/fake non-profit university to participate in the mainstream Higher Education discussion boards. Neither here, the older CHE forums, the comments discussion from Inside Higher Ed (and the old CHE), etc... it's not even a trickle.

The silence is so absolute that I sometimes wonder if the for-profit/fake for-profit universities even employ professors at all. Perhaps the professors are just bots.

Or it's so awesome to work at these institutions that everything is perfect.

Or maybe there is no internet there.

Maybe so. But SNHU is a private, non-profit.

[tuxthepenguin]

I randomly clicked on the business faculty to see what came up. The lone assistant professor (the other faculty member is a lecturer):

first joined SNHU in 2010, serving as a graduate/research assistant and, later, adjunct instructor in the Sport Management program. In 2016, she became a lecturer in the SNHU International Business program, before taking on her current assistant professor role. Her prior educational experience includes time as an assistant professor of Exercise & Sport Sciences at Colby-Sawyer College and as a substitute teacher in the Bedford School District.

Getting a degree there is a great use of your time.

[Aster]

It is perhaps important to note that it is extremely rare for a professor employed by a for-profit/fake non-profit university to participate in the mainstream Higher Education discussion boards. Neither here, the older CHE forums, the comments discussion from Inside Higher Ed (and the old CHE), etc... it's not even a trickle.

The silence is so absolute that I sometimes wonder if the for-profit/fake for-profit universities even employ professors at all. Perhaps the professors are just bots.

Or it's so awesome to work at these institutions that everything is perfect.

Or maybe there is no internet there.

Maybe so. But SNHU is a private, non-profit.

Heh.

SNHU belongs within the "fake non-profit" category of for-profit businesses. It's one of these "corporate colleges."
https://www.thenation.com/article/higher-education-corporate-colleges/

[dr_codex]

It is perhaps important to note that it is extremely rare for a professor employed by a for-profit/fake non-profit university to participate in the mainstream Higher Education discussion boards. Neither here, the older CHE forums, the comments discussion from Inside Higher Ed (and the old CHE), etc... it's not even a trickle.

The silence is so absolute that I sometimes wonder if the for-profit/fake for-profit universities even employ professors at all. Perhaps the professors are just bots.

Or it's so awesome to work at these institutions that everything is perfect.

Or maybe there is no internet there.

Maybe so. But SNHU is a private, non-profit.

Heh.

SNHU belongs within the "fake non-profit" category of for-profit businesses. It's one of these "corporate colleges."
https://www.thenation.com/article/higher-education-corporate-colleges/

Well, they became a non-profit in 1968, which seems a tad earlier than the process described in the above link.

I know that not everybody loves how SNHU operates, and I have very mixed feelings myself, but they pay adjuncts way better than does my public institution, and they aren't obviously gouging the usual suspects. I'd keep any eye on them.

[Aster]

Yes. It can probably be agreed by most that SNHU is on the higher "quality" end of the scale for the mega-university corporations.

So, much better than University of Phoenix (although UoP appears to be rapidly reinventing itself).

Probably better than Liberty University or Grand Canyon University.

Maybe a toss-up with Western Governors University. WGU sometimes gets in the news for major screw-ups though, while SNHU does not.

[spork]

PASSHE campuses offer early retirement incentive:

https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/education/2020/01/17/enrollment-decline-prompts-retirement-incentive-shippensburg-millersville/4491101002/.