​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Pennsylv​ania’s Bluepri​nt fo​​r Higher Edu​cation

A Com​​preh​ensive Approac​​h to Creating an Economic and Workforce Development Engine

The Pr​​​oble​​m

Decades of disinvestment, coupled with ​​one of the most decentralized higher education sectors ​​in the country, have created a complex set of deeply rooted challenges that prevent our excellent colleges and universities from fulfilling their promise. ​Pennsylvania is facing a growing workforce crisis. We need 61,000 more people with the right college degrees or credentials to fill open jobs. If nothing is done, conservative estimates show that talent gap will increase to at least 218,000 unfilled jobs within a decade.

As college​​ grows more expensive, enrollment is dropping, and college attainment rates are below the national average in 56 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Ma​​ny counties have little access to affordable higher education options resulting in low college-attendance rates.

The Solut​​​io​​n

The blueprint for higher​​ education sets the cours​​e for a new era of higher education in Pennsylvania. It is grounded in research, lessons learned from leading states, and input from vested partners. In the months ahead, we will continue to engage in a collaborative process to build out the details of this plan.

Three elements work together to boldly address the chronic challenges fa​​​cing higher education:

1. Build a new​ public system for higher education that unites PASSHE universities and community colleges;
2. Make colleg​​e more affordable;​
3. Reinvest in our publicly-funded colleges and universities via a predict​​able, transparent funding formula that will align state dollars with the needs of the Commonwealth.​​