New report suggests mergers of universities of the state system, which the interim chancellor describes as "cowards"

a statement that "Pennsylvania will need a highly educated citizenship, and the closing of opportunities goes in the opposite direction".

Advocating for more funds

Mash said that the RAND report should have suggested more funds so that the state system can "really comply with (its) mandatory legislative mission to provide high quality education and affordable for Pennsylvania residents of the working class "

Govt. Tom Wolf's budget proposal for 2018-19 in February included $ 468.1 million for the state system. That's $ 15 million, or 3.3 percent, more than this year, but still about $ 9 million less than the 2008-09 allocation, when funding for education began to plummet due to the recession.

Reference enrollment throughout the state system, in turn, has increased by almost 40 percent, from $ 5,358 in 2008-9 to $ 7,492 in 2017-18.

Enrollment during that period has decreased by 9.1 percent, from 112,597 to 102,301 students. Only West Chester University has increased enrollment, while Slippery Rock, Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg and Millersville have experienced only minimal declines.

The president of Millersville, John Anderson, said in a statement that the RAND report opens "many questions" about the state of the future of the system.

"At the University of Millersville," Anderson said, "we are committed to what really matters to students and their families: affordability and access to high quality education with relevant academic programs."

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