The Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce hosted its first Business Executive Forum of 2020 last week on the Penn State University Schuylkill Campus.

The topic of discussion was dubbed “May You Live in Interesting Times: Public Higher Education in the 2020s,” which covered many challenges that the Pennsylvania higher education system will face over the coming years. The Health & Wellness Center of the PSU campus was packed full of executive chamber members, who listened to a presentation by keynote speaker David Gray, who is the Senior Vice President for Finance & Business/Treasurer at Penn State.

“I do think higher education in this state is destined to live through some very interesting and challenging times over the next 10 years,” Gray said via teleconference, as he could not attend due to the weather. “Public higher education graduates form the backbone of the professional and managerial classes here in Pennsylvania for industry and businesses of all sizes. It’s something we should all be concerned about; the challenges that public higher education faces I think have enormous implications for the climate for business growth and economic development from the eastern border of New Jersey all the way to the western border of Ohio.”

Gray’s presentation highlighted many current issues that higher education will face. He noted that the number of annual high school graduates is declining. Furthermore, the students who do complete high school are increasingly choosing other career paths rather than attending Pennsylvania universities.

“That’s been a trend that really started some while back and has continued over the last several years,” Gray said. “We also have a very challenging system within many parts of the state in terms of the percentage of families that are living in poverty.”

In fact, according to Gray, one out of every 7.6 residents in the state lives in poverty, which ranks 22 nationally. “This imposes challenges for Pennsylvania, which is a costly state for higher education,” Gray said. “This puts a lot of pressure on families to send their son or daughter to college within the state.”

Another note from Gray mentioned that the new international enrollment at American universities fell by 6.6 percent in 2017-18, which marked the second-straight year of decline. There are 14 PASSHE (Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education) schools across the state, and enrollment is down 20 percent since 2016.

It’s going to be an upward battle, but Gray and Penn State Schuylkill Chancellor Patrick Jones seemed to agree that with a collective effort, improvement is possible.

“If we work together, the business community and the county, I believe we can encourage more young people to come here and stay after graduation,” Jones said.