{"id":168471,"date":"2026-04-17T11:47:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T11:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/168471\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T11:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T11:47:07","slug":"pas-10-state-universities-offer-affordable-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/168471\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa’s 10 state universities offer affordable education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania has 61,000 jobs that require education beyond high school and not enough qualified workers to fill them. By 2032, the gap will grow to 218,000 jobs that lack workers with postsecondary-level credentials, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The gap has real-world consequences for our economy and communities. As the chancellor of Pennsylvania\u2019s system of 10 state universities, I frequently hear from employers who struggle to find workers with the education they need. Hospitals need nurses, businesses need accountants and data analysts, school districts need teachers, advanced manufacturers need technicians, communities need social workers and the list goes on.<\/p>\n

To close the gap and address the worker shortage, more Pennsylvanians must complete education and training beyond high school. No matter whether they choose a university, a community college, a career or technical school, an apprenticeship or another good pathway, affordability is key to many people getting that education.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s demographics will make that challenge harder. The state has an aging workforce, with the highly skilled baby boomers retiring and fewer young people prepared to take their place in the labor market. Pennsylvania\u2019s employers are feeling the pressure of those worker shortages every day.<\/p>\n

Adding to the challenge,\u00a0some\u00a0young people\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0understand the potential\u00a0benefits of\u00a0higher education.\u00a0For that reason,\u00a0I\u00a0took a hard, data-driven look at\u00a0the\u00a0graduates\u00a0from our 10 state universities to better understand the economic return on a degree.<\/p>\n

The data provided a clear picture.<\/p>\n

On average, our graduates earn 65% more during the span of their careers than Pennsylvanians with a high school diploma alone. Over a lifetime, that is nearly $1 million in additional earnings.<\/p>\n

But what about the cost of paying for college?\u00a0That deserves the same\u00a0scrutiny.<\/p>\n

The data show that the cost of earning a degree is roughly 2% of a typical graduate\u2019s lifetime earnings. Nearly 95% of graduates can repay their student loans within 10 years \u2014 a sign of their financial stability.<\/p>\n

Those\u00a0outcomes\u00a0are\u00a0from our 10 state-owned universities, which\u00a0benefit\u00a0from state funding to\u00a0help\u00a0lower student costs.\u00a0Other higher education institutions around the state may\u00a0have positive results as well.\u00a0The\u00a0evidence is strong that higher education\u00a0is\u00a0the most reliable\u00a0pathway\u00a0to higher earnings, economic\u00a0mobility\u00a0and career\u00a0advancement.<\/p>\n

Despite the doom\u00a0hyped\u00a0by some naysayers, the facts are\u00a0clear: getting a post-secondary education pays off.\u00a0The\u00a0real\u00a0question\u00a0is whether enough people can afford that education to meet the needs of our economy.<\/p>\n

Each person who has the opportunity to learn, build skills and graduate helps to strengthen Pennsylvania\u2019s workforce. In recent years, the state-owned universities have enrolled more low-income students, more first-generation students and more community college transfers. Retention has hit record levels, meaning more students are staying on track to graduate. That is not only the right thing to do, but it also benefits our workforce. Each one of them helps to narrow our state\u2019s workforce shortfall.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania does not lack ambition or ability, but we must ensure that people of all ages can afford the education necessary for today\u2019s jobs and those projected in the future. When higher education is affordable, we open doors and expand the potential for greater career earnings for a young person in Lancaster to become a nurse, a rural student to learn how to start a business, a first-generation student from Philadelphia to become a teacher and a working adult in Erie to move into a more stable career.<\/p>\n

There is also no question that we must keep up with other states. California, North Carolina, Texas and other powerful states are trying hard to attract new industries and jobs. An educated workforce with strong problem-solving and reasoning skills remains one of the key factors that companies consider when deciding where to locate or expand. College affordability directly affects how many Pennsylvanians can earn the credentials necessary for those good jobs.<\/p>\n

To compete with those states and close Pennsylvania\u2019s\u00a0workforce shortfall, we must increase the number of people who complete college and other postsecondary education.<\/p>\n

Affordable public higher education, and the workforce it produces, are essential to keeping Pennsylvania working and ensuring the economic vitality of our communities.<\/p>\n

This is a contributed opinion column. Christopher Fiorentino is chancellor of Pennsylvania\u2019s State System of Higher Education. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author, and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication. Do you have a perspective to share? Learn more about how we handle guest opinion submissions at themorningcall.com\/opinions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania has 61,000 jobs that require education beyond high school and not enough qualified workers to fill them.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1559,28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-168471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-opinion","9":"tag-pennsylvania","10":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","11":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}