(09-11-2013 01:00 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote: I know in PA, the state school system (not the Commonwealth one of state-related institutions, which include PSU, Pitt, and Temple) was forced to pretty much admit any PA resident who had their diploma or GED and applied for state financial aid back in the 90's. Their perception tanked thereafter.
The Commonwealth schools, not fully public, who had the enrollment to do so, started making their satellite campuses into four-year institutions when, before, they were 2+2's for the main campus. The same legislation that "opened up" the state system to any and all in PA was also given to these schools, but they, unlike the state system ones, could deflect students away from their main campuses and into the satellites, thereby "salvaging" the enrollment profile and admit rate numbers for their main campuses that were used to "rank" the institutions (then used to prop up the value of the other campuses).
There's never been such legislation in Pennsylvania or any forcing of schools to accept students.
The state-owned and opperated schools (PASSHE) in Pennsylvania all generally started as Normal Schools, ie teachers colleges. They've never been regarded as other than serviceable local colleges with the general reputation of modest admission standards. That did not change in the 90s. Most are located in rural areas or small towns and have not grown substantially, with the exception of Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). They're all NCAA Division II schools, athletically, and all but one sponsors football.
Penn State's 19 branch campuses all started as 2-year junior colleges. When Penn State moved to make them all into 4-year campuses, and I believe that was in the mid- to late-90s for most of them, it infuriated the state school system (and many lawmakers) as duplication of public services. However, Penn State has much more political clout than the PSSHE, and it proceeded unabated. About 40% of all undergraduate students at Penn State at any one time are in their branch campuses. 60% of all PSU students start at a branch campus and then transfer with their 2+2 plan. The admission criteria of these schools are considerably lower than their main campus, or even most PSSHE schools. Admission statistics are not reported in combination although there is no differentiation in diplomas. 15 of Penn State branches are USCAA (small colleges), while two are are Division NCAA III, athletically.
All four of Pitt's regional campuses were created when Pitt was private, before it became state-related in 1966, with the first campus established in 1927 at the request of the Johnstown area school district. Three of the campuses were moved to 4-year status in 1970, 1979, and 1988, and one is still a very small, two-year school. None of them overlap geographically with PSSHEA schools' service areas. There is no formal transfer plan except in a few specialized academic programs. The three four-year schools are mostly self-contained colleges. Two are listed in Princeton Review's
Best Colleges guide. Athletically, one Pitt campus is NCAA Division II, while two others are Division III, and the smallest operates under the PCAA, which oversees Pennsylvania junior colleges.
Temple has one regional campus (unless you count its operation in Japan). That campus is in the Philadelphia suburbs and created from a merger of the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women and Ambler Junior College that was absorbed by Temple in 1958, also before Temple became state-realted. It began offering its first bachelors degrees in 1987. Temple's Ambler campus as no sports of its own, but is actually home to Temple's varsity baseball, soccer and softball teams.