Education

Colleges and their students register the need for course correction

With the economy and needs changing in classrooms and administrations alike, stakeholders want to make sure colleges and universities adapt with them.

Pennsylvania State University is home to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health.

Pennsylvania State University is home to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health. AIMINTANG/GETTY IMAGES

Pennsylvania colleges and universities have come a long way since Dickinson College and the University of Pennsylvania established themselves as some of the first institutions of higher education in the Keystone State. The state’s so-called “normal schools,” formed as facilities to train teachers, have since evolved into the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, a state-owned university system with 14 physical locations across the commonwealth. 

But what should that next evolution look like in an age where everything from artificial intelligence to labor market data is being factored into the future of education – especially when the needs of students and their institutions have changed so drastically? It’s not an easy answer. 

“For a university to really understand: ‘Who are my students? Why are they here? What am I doing for them and how do I ensure that what I’m doing for them is personalized to their needs to the best of my ability?’ is a very complex set of questions, because it’s going to be different institution by institution,” said Dan Greenstein, the chancellor of PASSHE, the body overseeing commonwealth-owned universities.  

Greenstein has led the effort to redesign the state-owned university system, a process that involved integrating six universities into two larger institutions. In an interview with City & State, Greenstein emphasized the importance of making sure course offerings and academic programs set students up for careers where they can be successful. 

“The educational programs, the credentials that they offer – degrees, certificates – should align in some ways with career opportunities. That doesn’t mean it’s all science (and) business; there are so many wonderful humanities and social sciences and arts programs, which are so important and provide so many critical skills and perspectives,” he said. 

“But it’s important when offering courses in all disciplines to ensure that they’re delivering learning outcomes, that students come away from those programs of study with skills that equip them for life,” he added. 

Greenstein pointed to one initiative currently underway at PASSHE schools. He said the system is requiring institutions to use PASSHE’s data system to show the market demand for new programs, degrees and academic credentials. While acknowledging that the system’s schools have seen a roughly 30% decline in enrollments since the 2010s, he emphasized that “our credentialing productivity in those high-demand areas has actually stayed flat, which means we’ve increased proportionally.”

An interconnected approach linking coursework to career outcomes is one component that educators and institutions from PASSHE and Penn State and Pitt to the state’s community colleges are focusing on – but it’s not the only part of the equation. 

In addition to the economy, student needs are also changing. Pennsylvania borrowers have some of the highest student debt levels in the nation, and as they work to complete their degrees and credentialing programs, students are also reporting increasing struggles with mental health and hunger. 

According to 2022 data examined and released this year by Gallup, nationally, 41% of college students said they considered “stopping out” – temporarily withdrawing from their academic program – for at least one term. Hispanic students, Black students and male students were more likely to consider stopping out. Among students who considered pausing their coursework, emotional stress (55%) was the top reason, while 47% listed personal mental health reasons as their top reason. 

Brett Scofield is the executive director of the Center for Collegiate Mental Health.
Brett Scofield is the executive director of the Center for Collegiate Mental Health. / Photo credit: Samantha Malizia

In Pennsylvania, people under the age of 30 are much more likely to negatively rate their own mental health, according to the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion’s most recent annual health survey. According to the college’s 2023 survey, which polled 417 adult Pennsylvanians in March and April, 35% of respondents under the age of 30 rated their mental health as “only fair” or “poor,” while only 18% of people 30 or older rated their mental health the same way.

Brett Scofield, the executive director of Penn State’s Center for Collegiate Mental Health, told City & State that CCMH’s annual report underscored that when students take advantage of – and subsequently benefit from during – counseling services and extracurricular activities, they’re less likely to drop out. 

“What we found this past year is, when students improve during counseling services, they are more likely to persist in school,” Scofield said. 

Overall, Scofield said, colleges and universities have been receptive to student mental health needs. “Colleges and universities and programs have been exceptional at destigmatizing services. Students feel very comfortable asking for help now. Whereas, maybe 20-30 years ago, that was not as prominent – the destigmatization. It still is an issue, but it is less so. And there's been many programs implemented about identifying and referring students in need.”  

In addition to stigma, Scofield said that misinformation about counseling services can dissuade students from seeking mental health care. He said students sometimes hear secondhand that counseling centers are full, or that they’re referring people to outside services, without first checking with the counseling center. To address the high volume of students seeking counseling and mental health services, he added, colleges and universities have shifted to new models to make sure students are getting care. 

“Many schools recognize the supply-demand imbalances with their counseling services,” he said. “In order to respond to this issue, several schools contract with telehealth companies to add treatment capacity, which helps meet those needs, especially during critical times of the year. This is a strategy we use at Penn State – University Park.”

Innovation has been needed to address rising hunger levels on college campuses, as well. According to Feeding Pennsylvania, 2 million people in the state struggle with hunger, including 500,000 children. College campuses haven’t been spared. 

Last year, then-Gov. Tom Wolf secured $1 million to develop a hunger-free campus initiative in the 2022-2023 state budget, creating a program to drive state funds to colleges and universities that are actively working to connect students with food and other basic resources. This year’s budget, signed into law by Gov. Josh Shapiro, includes another $1 million for the initiative. 

More than 70 institutions of higher learning in the commonwealth are now designated as hunger-free campuses, meaning they have plans and programs in place to combat student hunger.

Robb Friedlander, the director of advocacy at Swipe Out Hunger, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting hunger that was originally founded on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, said student hunger has been exacerbated due to both changes in the economy and in who is attending college. 

“What we’re seeing is more and more low-income, first-generation (and) parenting students on our campuses,” Friedlander said. “At the same time, you (add in) increased tuition, increased housing costs, increased health care costs, increased transportation and so on – and it’s really just kind of a double whammy for students.”

Friedlander said the institutions that have been most effective at combating hunger on their campuses are the ones that have taken a more comprehensive approach, combining food pantries with other resources like clothing centers and housing and nutrition assistance programs. That state funding certainly helps, too, he said. 

Students and advocates joined forces in the state Capitol in 2022 to call for action to address student hunger.
Students and advocates joined forces in the state Capitol in 2022 to call for action to address student hunger. / Photo credit: Commonwealth Media Services

“All of these pieces, all of these wraparound services, are interconnected – the hard part about that is that that takes resources, that takes focus, that takes staffing,” he said. “That’s where we really believe that state funding is the key and is imperative there.”

As for student debt: According to 2022 data from the Education Data Initiative, the average borrower in Pennsylvania holds approximately $35,385 in student loan debt. Borrowers in the state hold a combined $64.5 billion in student loan debt. (The federal average student loan debt is $37,338 per borrower, according to the organization.) 

Governors and state lawmakers have floated a number of different proposals to alleviate the financial strain of student debt. Republican state Sen. Scott Martin recently introduced legislation that would require all high school seniors in the state to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which Martin says will make sure no students are unaware of the financial aid that is available to them.

Others have suggested using state funds to take the burden off of borrowers. In his 2023-24 budget proposal, Shapiro pitched a $2,500 per year tax credit program, which was not included in the final budget, that would have given tax breaks to recently certified teachers, police officers and nurses. During his time in office, Wolf unsuccessfully attempted to gain legislative buy-in on the Nellie Bly Scholarship Program, which would have provided students with scholarships to cover the cost of tuition at PASSHE schools and community colleges. 

All of these pieces, all of these wraparound services, are interconnected.
– Robb Friedlander

Greenstein said keeping the cost of higher education low is critical to the state’s chances for helping as many residents as possible get their degrees – and, by extension, helping the state’s economy.

“Making education affordable – it is so, so critical,” he said. “We’re the most affordable option in the state of Pennsylvania. By comparison to other comparable publics, we’re still too expensive. For a middle-income family household to send one of their members to one of our universities – again, the most affordable four-year options in the state – you’re asking them to basically sacrifice 40-45% of their discretionary income.”

And when taking everything from workforce needs, to affordability, to hunger and mental health into account, it’s likely going to require institutions to work in tandem with students, Greenstein said. 

“We need to do everything we can to ensure that our students are getting the biggest bang for the buck,” he said. “It's a partnership. Universities and students have to work together to get across the finish line. But are we doing everything we can to ensure that? I think that's absolutely critical.”

Back to Special Report: Future of Education

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.