Editorial: Shapiro's big idea on colleges needs more detail

Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed an overhaul to the way postsecondary education works in Pennsylvania.

The state is a leader when it comes to going to college. It sports an Ivy League school in the University of Pennsylvania, one of the largest universities in the country in Penn State, groundbreaking major research facilities such as Pitt and Carnegie Mellon, boutique private schools like Saint Vincent, the wide web of public colleges including Indiana University of Pennsylvania and community colleges serving counties like Allegheny and Westmoreland.

The state also has some of the highest tuition in the country. That’s expected at private schools like Carnegie Mellon and UPenn, both of which top $60,000 a year. But state-related schools like Penn State and Pitt come in at about $20,000 a year. Even the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education facilities, which have tried to hold the line on tuition for several years, are $7,716 per year.

There is an additional money crisis as the state and state-related schools struggle with the amount of funding they receive from Pennsylvania in appropriations — money meant, in part, to make tuition more affordable for residents. Add in the enrollment declines in recent years, and schools are struggling.

Shapiro’s idea addresses the issue by reassembling the state system schools and community colleges into one entity. It’s a great thought, but some want more detail before they give support.

“The types of changes being proposed are no small undertaking, and notably absent from the announcement is the amount of funding required to effectuate the plan,” said state Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana.

That detail isn’t irrelevant. Neither is the money, especially when college funding was part of the mass legislative car crash that was the 2023-24 budget process.

But the difference between a good thought and a good idea is easily seen with the last attempt to overhaul part of the state’s higher education system. In 2022, Pennsylvania Western University was born from the merging of California, Clarion and Edinboro universities, while Commonwealth University was created from Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield.

Those mergers were supposed to create two universities with multiple campuses. It created two entities on paper with a multiple identity disorder. There have been struggles to figure out overlapping programs. It was not as easy as saying the programs were fused.

The governor’s latest idea would have to come with even more planning and verified funding, given its goal of a price tag of just $1,000 for tuition for any Pennsylvanian at a state-owned school or community college.

Big ideas are where big change starts. Kudos to Shapiro for thinking in those terms.

But there is a universe of difference between a big idea and a functional one. Shapiro has to show his work to get an A on this.