Today is the second day of the two-day fall meeting of the Board of Governors of the State System of Higher Education, and the agenda includes votes on a number of items, including the budget request for the System as a whole, and the budgets of the individual universities.
The meeting is being held at IUP’s Kovalchick Complex, and it’s open to the public. A highlight will be the first address to the board by new chancellor Daniel Greenstein. In an appearance yesterday on Indiana In the Morning on WCCS, spokesman Kenn Marshall says Greenstein “has some bold ideas” for the State System Redesign. And he says the issues being faced by the State System are not unique to Pennsylvania. “He’s acknowledged right up front the challenges facing Pennsylvania, the decling enrollment, the stagnant state funding. Those are problems that are endemic among higher education in America. And he deliberately came here…he said he chose the State System as much as the State System chose him.”
As to the budgets for the individual universities, IUP is predicting a two percent drop in revenue and a 1.5 percent increase in expenses. That equates to a shortfall of about $7.5 million
The governors’ agenda will include revisions that will allow each school some flexibility in setting their academic calendars, and a comprehensive review of recommendations for setting tuition levels at each university.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 AM.
