“After years of under-investment, Pennsylvania’s tax-supported networks of four-year colleges look like the nation’s Rust Belt of higher-education systems — plagued by high costs, a dramatic drop in Pennsylvania students, and a rash of empty dorm rooms….Enrollment at the 14 state-owned schools has fallen by 20 percent since 2010, with Mansfield University losing more than half of its students. Enrollment at 17 of Penn State’s 21 campuses around the state also fell, with a dozen plummeting at least 30 percent. The two networks lost a total of 28,000 students — a 14 percent decline. It would have been worse if Penn State hadn’t enrolled thousands more out-of-state students.”
Read the article in The Philadelphia Inquirer here.