At yesterday Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing, State System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Greenstein offered a blunt and stunning admission: Cheyney University is at a “watershed moment” in its 182-year history, will very likely lose its accreditation, and is going to need a loan, probably from the other thirteen state-owned universities, just to cover this year’s $10 million debt. Cheyney already owes its sister schools $43 million.
Greenstein said there are three options for Cheyney: continuing to operate as they are, recommending to the legislature that they close the school, or recognizing that the accreditation will be lost and setting a new course of action that will enable the school to survive. He said afterward that that could involve Cheyney becoming affiliated with another accredited school or becoming a certificate or non-degree school. Losing accreditation would mean Cheyney students would not be eligible for federal financial aid.
Greenstein told the senators that the state government, the State System, and the university itself share the blame for Cheyney’s desperate situation. He said the problems were evident ten years ago, and all involved chose to ignore them.
