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Boxing News: Anderson defeats Martin, remains unbeaten » July 25 … – Fight News

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By Brad Snyder at ringside
Unbeaten WBO #7, WBA #8, WBC #9 heavyweight Jared “The Real Big Baby” Anderson (15-0, 14 KOs) went the distance for the first time against former IBF heavyweight champion “Prince” Charles Martin (29-4-1, 26 KOs) on Saturday night at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio. Anderson applied pressure from the get-go. Martin, who took the bout on twelve days notice, stayed on his backfoot trying to counter. Anderson dropped Martin at the end of round three with a right hand. Martin began to stand his ground in round five and had a huge round with numerous clean connects. Anderson outworked Martin behind his jab after that. The bout went the full ten with Anderson prevailing by unanimous decision. Scores were 98-91, 99-90, 99-90.
Martin did much better than I thought he would and Anderson probably owes him a bit of gratitude, because he definitely gave him some much needed experience and resistance.
Lucie, I’m afraid that “much needed experience and resistance” isn’t going to benefit an average fighter like Anderson.
I think you’re being a little too hard on him, Michael. He’s just 23, basically a baby for a heavyweight and he was going to get to this point anyway – where he found someone who didn’t just go away quietly the first time he opened up. He clearly has defensive problems, which we knew before this fight, but maybe now that he got stung he has a reason to go and work on those heavily; but he deserves a chance to develop regardless of what he turns out to be, at least imo. The sky didn’t fall on his entire career last night.
Anderson was almost out on his feet twice. If Martin had had a little more stamina and had been better prepared he would knocked Anderson out. We learned one thing, Anderson has a glass jaw, is easy to hit and can’t make the proper adjustments (within the fight) to prevail emphatically.
If he had a “glass jaw” he would have been stopped, Michael. As clean as he got hit, he would have been on the floor. And, again, I’m not ready to pass judgment on a 23 in his first tough fight…. that he still found a way to win clearly. I’m not saying he’ll be champion one day and I wasn’t saying that before this fight, but he deserves a chance, like virtually every other prospect, to show what he’s learned after not having everything go his way before being written off.
He did get rocked and in one of those rounds it seemed like he didn’t know what to do after getting hit that hard.
Lol Tyson Fury was almost knocked out by light punching blown up cruiserweight Steve Cunningham but you have a problem with Anderson because he didn’t knock out Charles Martin?
Wow. The only one rocked in that fight was Jared. He got clocked into doing the chicken dance in the closing seconds. Definitely going to get bombed out by the top heavies. Joshua got rid of a fitter, faster Martin in two.
Well you’re forgetting that Martin suffered a legit knockdown in rd 3. But overall it did appear as though Martin posed more of a danger to Anderson than vice versa.
Charles Martin was never fight. Second Martin got hit by Joshua and just went down in fear. Second Joshua got knocked out by butterball Andy Ruiz the same Andy Ruiz who got knocked down by old ass Chris Arreola.
The old Joshua is dead
entertaining scrap. not close. but baby may have a little ways to go. maybe not ready for the top guys
Well Anderson isn’t quite as great as he thinks he is.
A good test for Anderson.
Honestly, Martin showed me a lot more than I expected. This fight showed that Anderson is heavily relying on his athleticism. As he evolves he’ll need to tighten it up as tougher comp comes his way. A fighter like Andy Ruiz (who’s a little more controlled with his hands) would have stopped the Jared Anderson that fought tonight. Honestly don’t know where he goes from here.
Luis Ortiz?
the big baby wasn’t in shape his mouth was open from the 3rd round on he couldn’t get by a 38 year old fighter convincingly not a chance against a top heavy weight
Tyson Fury couldn’t knock out the glass chin 40 year old Wladimir Klistchko. Of course Wlad is better than Martin but Wlad was still 40 and known for having a glass chin.
Not convinced, Anderson isn’t a bad fighter, but needs a ton of improvements to be ready for the real live wires. A fight against Carlos Takam could be a great test
This was a good fight for Jared, even though he got hurt, he was able to weather the storm. I am certain, this fight will help in Jared future.
Charles exceeded my expectations specially with an 11 days notice
Good test, good win, let’s hope he’s not the heavyweight version of Berlanga.
Anderson is not the hype. Martin did not try to win the fight. He threw punches directed towards Andersons armpit, pocket or 3 feet away. Very strange. Anderson hurt on a couple of occasions when Martin did throw but Martin had no sense of urgency. Anderson has fast hands, average pop and a suspect chin.
Remember Martin accepted the fight with 11 days notice
Your right. Martin dragged Anderson over the coals one rd and almost had him out of there. Next rd, Martin goes back to what was NOT working, and starts retreating again, instead of jumping on the still rocked Anderson. Strange….
Charles Martin came to fight! But he could only fight in spurts. Anderson got caught and looked very shaky in round 5.
After round 6 Martin was still dangerous but only fought in spurts. Charles Martin is not the most durable hw. Anderson’s power is over rated but he has a very good skills – jab , body work but the switching to southpaw and back won the fight.
Just imagine if Martin had a full camp instead of two weeks.
Anderson is garbage all u have to do is hit him to the body and then catch him on the chin because he has no chin. I’m sure JPrince done got to Martin to throw the fit. Anderson won’t last long against better competition.
Lol Anderson has no chin because Martin hurt him? Then wouldn’t that mean Tyson Fury has no chin since the light punching 180 pound Steve Cunnigham knocked him down almost had him out?
Watching the ESPN commentators trying to cover Anderson’s ass when he was nearly out on his feet in the 10th round was hilarious! I’m afraid Jared was badly exposed tonight! He looked very average, and unlike Wilder, he doesn’t have 1 punch knockout power, which spells T.R.O.U.B.L. E!
Wilder only has on punch knockout against lower tiered fighters. Wilder has yet to knockout a elite fighter who is still in their primes.
Although he lost two out of three fights with him. He knocked down fury multiple times when others would not even dared to get up. He also did it after getting knocked down himself. I was no fan of Wilder, but after that last fight with fury, I got nothing back respect.
It’s a fight where both fighters had their stock rise. Anderson persevered & is a few fights away from a title shot; and Martin gave a heck of a performance on short notice. If Dillian Whyte doesn’t sign the contract, Hearn should call Martin. Can Joshua handle a southpaw with more power than Usyk, albeit with a big drop off in boxing skills.
Lol um Joshua already knocked out Martin kid.
Anderson won, but as far as I am concerned he did not pass the test. He moves straight back which opens him up for counter power shots. I called that before tim Bradley did. I don’t think he could beat frank Sanchez or the Russian in the first fight tonight. Better change his retirement age because he is going to need a few more years.
The person that struggled worse than Anderson tonight was that rapper he walked out to.
Plus, I’m glad he got exposed. Maybe he should wore all lives matter!
Awww what’s da matta? You got left out?
@Killa I know you’re still embarrassed that you were the only one who ordered that Mayweather-Gotti III PPV a couple weeks ago, but there’s no need to come on here and take it out on Jared Anderson…
Ah, USF, I’ve never ordered pay per view in my life especially not a Mayweather fight. I’m not a star struck YouTube fan like yourself. I call as I see it while you go along to get along. Anderson is no more than a regular heavyweight with a little bit of speed and deception. Other than that, he gets knocked out on his next step up. Dumass.
“Dumass”
LoL!! I knew I’d grow on you
Martin nearly stopped him on short notice. With a full camp, Martin definitely gets the TKO win.
Michael Grant 2.0
Might be. I thought this one would go 3-4 rounds, but Martin was competitive. Anderson takes shots, and a bigger puncher or a more voluminous puncher might be hard for him. That said, Martin is a southpaw and a fairly awkward one at that and has some uniqueness. I’d like to see Anderson fight a more thuggish guy like Makhmudov, who I suspect would be far more willing to push him back.
A ton of credit to Martin here, first for taking a stab at this on short notice, and hanging in there and making a fight of it. I thought that straight left could work for Martin, and it damn sure did when he started throwing it more in the 5th round. Looked like Martin had him in some trouble there, but got sloppy in the last 30-45 seconds of that round. Thought Anderson responded well in the 6th with the jab, and did pretty well the rest of the way until getting tagged in the final seconds. Too little, too late for Martin, but a good effort from him.
Anderson, even though he was tagged a few times, seemed more defense-conscious tonight, and was a little better in that department than I thought he’d be. His team will have a lot of things to work on when they go back and watch the film on this. Great fight for him at this stage of his career.
USF, no shite, Sherlock. You sound like andre ward. Looking for any and every positive when he reality, he failed. Bad. He won’t beat frank Sanchez, the Russian tonight, Zhang, Joshua, wilder, ruiz, hell Ortiz might be able beat him. Ordinary fighter, better change his retirement age because he ain’t retiring in 3 years.
So, Anderson (at 23 years old), beats Martin…who was a somewhat weak belt holder, but was one nonetheless…by scores of 98-91, 99-90, 99-90, and you say “he failed. Bad.” Maybe you just wanted him to fail, and maybe you wanted him to fail because of the BLM connection that you basically said makes Anderson a turd. Whatever the case, I’m sure he’ll take a near shut-out decision win.
Don’t know if he beats any of the guys you mentioned or not at the moment, but he’s still developing, and fights like this can only help him.
Aren’t you the same guy who said I was “butthurt” after the Haney-Loma fight, even though you were the one who literally belly-ached more than anyone on this board about Haney getting the nod? There must be a lot of beer involved when you’re watching these things.
Like I said earlier, you go along to get along. So, if martin was such a weak belt holder why didn’t Anderson obliterate him? He almost got obliterated in two separate rounds. He failed and you know it, but you are too proud to admit it. By the way, he is a turd, but that turd got nearly flushed last night by a “weak belt holder.” Or let’s give it the all around excuse, ” he is still developing.” Bitch, please. He has been fighting since he was a kid, he has 15 pro fights this isn’t a sport anymore where you develop. That’s just another excuse, ok Tim or andre? Face it, berlanga all over again. As for Haney and Loma, you know who won that, but again maybe you don’t. Furthermore, only thing that flows when I watch these fights is the blood of a warrior from someone who has been in the ring and on these streets, you smart mouth two bit punk.
Haney is 30-0, and Anderson is 15-0. So far so good for both. I’d say they’re both doing pretty well in life so far. I wonder how you compare? Probably not so well judging by how miserable you come across. You’re probably at home punching your sofa every time one of these guys racks up another W.
As to how far Anderson, or Haney, or anybody else makes it in the sport, it doesn’t effect me one way or the other. I truly don’t care if Anderson wins or loses his next fight. It’s just entertainment for me. The fact that it does seem to bother you so much says a lot about you. Being bothered by trivial things like this is common for people with low IQs, or as you would put it, “dumasses”.
Of course, like a little liberal you turn it to, How do I compare? If it’s only entertainment then why are you bothered about bringing up Haney again. Can’t let it go, huh? Still hold a grudge that I called you out for your obvious ignorance in the sport of boxing. Your right, it is trivial that two complete classless disrespectful boxers have anything to do with my world or life, but again I call a spade a spade. Dumass, is a fitting title for you because on one hand you say it’s trivial and could careless, but on the other hand you keep responding, so you must care. Dumass. You must feel like you have to defend your fragile ego and your BS analysis that sounds exactly like Tim Bradley and andre ward. In other words, you ain’t original. Being on here maybe gives you a glimmer of intelligence by plagiarizing tv hosts commentary. Again, dumass.
Again, you couldn’t stop whining about the Loma loss. That’s how I even noticed you to begin with. I’m responding to the a-hole on the board, which has nothing to do with Anderson at this point. BTW, Liberal? You sure about that? I’m in one of the more red states in America, and quite happy here. And yes, Ward and Bradley are my heroes, and I do everything I can to be like them. I even got a head implant to increase the size of my cranium to look like a white Tim Bradley.
Ha. Ha. Funny. I give an A for effort. Do you read your own posts or do you plagiarize those to? You brought up Haney and Loma, not me, here’s a new classic: dumass! Go back and look. Just cause you live in a red state does not mean you think or act like a red state. Believe me. Anyways. I actually have no problem with them being your heros, seriously. They both fought as champions, led upstanding lives to my knowledge, and were not disrespectful to the sport. I don’t remember either one of them shying away from any fights either. As commentators, it is very different they are biased for the house fighter in just about every case. I liked when Atlas was there, he said it like it was. You are still a ” dumass.”
Lol either you are trolling of you are just plain stupid. Zhang barely beat guys like Jerry Forrest and Andrii Rudenko and others. Joshua got knocked out by fat Andy Ruiz, Wilder’s best win in his career so far is against a 50 year old Luis Ortiz, but because Anderson didn’t win by knockout he is a failure as a boxer? Stick to watching cartoons kid.
Not as stupid as you to think that this guy goes any further than what he has done. Let’s see who he fights next, will tell all. Bet, he takes a step back. Did you see him looking at the clock? That tells you something, tells me it was too hot in the kitchen and he wanted out. Face it, he should have obliterated martin last night, he didn’t then almost got knocked out twice. Now, I don’t like him, true, but I even said he would pass the test before the fight. He didn’t. He looked bad. He wanted out and to me martin almost made him quit. You keep riding on the band wagon, chump, but that band wagon made its last stop last night.
Anderson has the skill set, but as most of us knew already, his power is overrated.
Anderson = no gracias.
Somebody with a solid punch, a solid chin and a solid mean streak will eventually catch Anderson’s head on the line and KO him.
In due time, Anderson will cry like a big baby.
ESPN needs to tap the brakes in portraying Jared as the “the next great American heavyweight “. Please tell Tim Bradley to calm the hell down; he’s horrible. Ward and Tess is all we need really. And what the hell was that cut piece with Roy Jones and Anderson holding horses lol, I caught the last seconds of that.
Although 240+ pounds, Anderson is small in this giant-esqe era. He gets knocked out by the first quality heavyweight he fights unfortunately
Lol Deontay Wilder weighs 210 pounds. You aren’t very bright are you?
This is why people like you should stick to playing video games and watching cartoons. Tyson Fury is a 240 pound guy who comes in the ring fat, Zhang and Joyce are 240 pound dudes who come into the ring fat. Andy Ruiz is 6’0 but comes in the ring weighing 270 pounds. So does that mean Ruiz is bigger than Anderson? Hell Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko are 6’5 and 6’7 and they both came in the ring weighing in the 240’s most of their careers. Maybe lean the difference between being big and being fat.
I like Martin..he’s a funny dude
Anderson went to school last night against a tough veteran. He proved he can take a punch. He is America’s best young heavyweight. He is about a year away from competing with Fury and Wilder. He is only 23. He is a good kid. He has made a fan out of me. Best of luck to him in the future.
Beyond the defensive issues I would have liked to have seen the use of a proper left hook when he was in conventional stance. He seemed to have everything in his arsenal but that.
I think, hype aside, that at 23 he did fine. Maybe a B to B+ performance. Be interesting to watch his development. At this stage in his career I think he still has a significant upside.
Charles took the fight for a paycheck short notice and just tried enough to make it look real. Anderson is athletic but showed little skill.
Anderson is all hype from both the media and from his own self delusions as he bloviated about how he was the best HW in the world. Anybody in Rings top 10 HW’s would literally blow him away. If Martin had any legit skills would have knocked Anderson out. Let Anderson fight the big Chinaman next and see how long he last.
Zhang is 40 – Anderson can box his ears off. Anderson will learn he is not a KO artist and become more of a mover.
Nonetheless, I’d list an Anderson/Zhang fight as must-see TV. Zhang might just be too rugged.
Martin other than a few spurts of aggression during the fight did nothing more than walk around the ring pawing, posing, and back peddling with the primary intent to merely survive the 10 rounds. He did not fight to win. But in those very few spurts of aggression he did expose Anderson as an over hyped fraud who will get destroyed once he faces a legit top 10 Ring HW ranked contender.
actually it was a better fight for martin if the 10th round had another 2 minutes martin would have kod big baby remember anderson has no defensive skills baby not ready for the top 10 heavys in the 5th round big baby looked at the clock and looked like can i make it out of this round he barely did
Where is LeKaren James after all his talk yesterday??? I guess he crawled back under his rock.
Anderson needs a lot of work. He is lucky Martin did not jump on him the rd after he hurt him. He let him off the hook.
The heavyweight division is teeming with talent right now. Anderson better be moved along a lot slower or he will get put to sleep.
A lot of criticism here, but if he would have KOd him in 3 people would still bitch about the performance. He was fighting a southpaw on short notice. It was a good development fight for him. I expected a better performance, but win today look better the next time out. Martin didn’t really call come to fight. Looking for one big shot the whole fight.
Anderson is HIGHLY overrated. If this is what we have as the “next best heavyweight champion” then we’re doomed. He couldn’t stop Martin who came in on 11 days notice. Didn’t even faze him in the ring, it was actually the other way around. Andy Ruiz would absolutely annihilate this guy. Ruiz stops him within 7 rounds. Don’t even get me started on Usyk, Wilder, Fury or even Joshua. Shit, even that Russian dude who fought in the opening fight would KO Anderson. Soon enough the hype train will be derailed.
I’ll you that Usyk, Wilder, and Fury are probably still a bridge too far for Anderson. I’d even favor Makhmudov over Anderson. But Andy Ruiz? He’s fought the same path…. One big win and a collection of has-been and never-were’s. Anderson is staying active and trying to develop, and in theory, his ceiling is a lot higher than Ruiz. If I’m Anderson, that’s a big name I’d try for right now. The others? Not so much.
Tim Bradley knows the ability of boxers, and if he believes Jared is not ready for the top fighters, you can take it to the bank.
I can’t wait to see Spence stop old man Crawford, because my home boy is the truth.

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Is the Canelo Alvarez fight perfect timing for Jermell Charlo? Age … – Sporting News

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Since putting on gloves at 13 years old, Canelo Alvarez has gone from red-haired rookie sensation to boxing royalty.
Born in Guadalajara, the Mexican star has won gold in four divisions and he’s the current undisputed super middleweight champion. He has beaten the best in boxing, including Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, and Gennadiy Golovkin.
Now 33, the battle-hardened Canelo has transitioned into the “veteran” category and some feel his best years are behind him. He now seeks to prove his doubters wrong when he defends his titles against Jermell Charlo on September 30. 
“I always believe that I’m number one, my whole career,” Canelo said at a media workout. “You need to believe in yourself, I still believe I’m number one. But I believe there is more than just one fighter alone at the top, there are a few. I still feel young and fresh. I never think about the end of my career. I just train and fight year after year. I still feel that I’m at my best.”
The Canelo-Charlo fight takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a familiar home for Canelo, whereas Charlo is headlining there for the first time. The 12-round bout, plus undercard action, will air on Showtime PPV in the U.S. and DAZN in the U.K.
MORE: The best five years in boxing history revisited
Per Sports Interaction, Canelo is the -388 favorite, while Charlo, the undisputed super welterweight champion, is the +288 underdog. Despite those odds, Charlo, also 33, sees himself as the better fighter.
“This is the biggest fight in boxing, and I’m coming to leave it all in the ring like I do every time,” Charlo said. “I manifested this fight into existence and earned it with everything I’ve done in this sport so far. Canelo is a great fighter, but he’s gonna see what Lions Only is all about. When the fight’s over, people are gonna have to recognize that I’m the best fighter in the sport.” 
Charlo is not worried about the weight gain, having to move up two weight classes to take on Canelo. Sparring big men and working alongside his brother Jermall, the WBC middleweight champion, Jermell believes this is the perfect time to fight Canelo.
Does Charlo have a fair point? Could Canelo be overlooking the supposedly smaller man?

Canelo already announced his intentions on The Breakfast Club to retire around 36-37. He even teased retirement if he lost to John Ryder in May, which is a fight he would go on to win by unanimous decision. A former pound-for-pound No. 1, Canelo has tough challenges ahead of him outside of Charlo, including David Benavidez and a potential rematch against light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. 
Boxing great Bernard Hopkins believes Charlo is a different challenge for Canelo, who hasn’t fought below super middleweight since 2019.
WATCH: Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo, live on DAZN
“His style is totally different from the styles that Canelo has fought. [Charlo is] younger, more determined to prove that Canelo’s time has been great, but it’s up,” Hopkins told Fight Hype via Boxing Social. “I just believe that Canelo will have to get him out of there early. The later the fight goes, the more Canelo will start showing not only his age but he’ll start showing the success he’s been enjoying for so long is starting to look different.
“I see hard-earned, skillful moments in that fight where [Charlo], who wants to prove himself, will come out and show us something that we knew he had, but he’s never had to show it till he steps in with Canelo. Canelo elevates Charlo. I just think he has the skills, and if he maintains that mentality, it can be really a nightmare for Canelo, based on style.”
Charlo was supposed to fight Tim Tszyu for super welterweight gold before a hand injury nixed a planned bout. He wants to become undisputed at 168, return to 154, and potentially take on pound-for-pound No. 1 Terence Crawford. Regardless of his upcoming plans, Charlo’s focus is solely on beating Canelo, the man who has had beef with both brothers. 
Holding more gold and honoring family is enough motivation for Charlo. Though he has proven everyone wrong over the years, the current uncertainty surrounding Canelo may be the perfect time for the Louisiana-born Charlo to face the super middleweight king.

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Pa. public colleges battle for students and funding – Inside Higher Ed

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Enrollment in the state has plummeted, but it has one of the highest ratios of institutions to students in the country. The result is fierce competition over a dwindling pool of applicants.
By  Liam Knox
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Daniel Greenstein, chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, stands in front of a downward-trending graph showing state high school graduation rates in 2019. As enrollment nosedived across the state’s public colleges, Greenstein merged campuses in his system.
Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images
Pennsylvania has a numbers problem.
With nearly 250 colleges and universities, including over 40 public institutions, Pennsylvania has the fourth most higher education institutions of any state, after California, Texas and New York. It is home to four public multicampus institutions—Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE)—in addition to Lincoln University, an HBCU, and a sprawling, decentralized network of community colleges. That’s not even counting the 129 private colleges.
But while there’s no shortage of suppliers, demand for higher education in the Keystone State is nowhere near what it used to be.
While the more popular campuses are stable or growing, many of the state’s public institutions have seen drastic enrollment declines since 2010. Enrollment at Penn State’s University Park campus is up 8 percent since 2010, and Pitt Oakland is up by 1 percent. But when the numbers at the two institutions are considered, including all of their campuses, both have suffered drops of over 30 percent, according to public data from the institutions. PASSHE’s systemwide enrollment has also fallen by 30 percent in the same period.
Those enrollment declines are largely thanks to steep drops at the regional comprehensive universities, which in many cases are over 50 percent. Enrollment at Penn State Hazleton, for instance, has dropped by 64 percent since 2010; at Pitt Titusville it has fallen by 96 percent, leaving only 23 students on campus in 2022.
There are a number of usual suspects behind Pennsylvania’s enrollment crisis, chief among them a general demographic decline in the state. The entire nation is facing a projected demographic cliff in 2026, but Pennsylvania is on the bleeding edge, hemorrhaging residents faster than 46 other states, according to 2022 census data.
But Andrew Koricich, executive director of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges, said neither explanation tells the whole story. Affordability is the crux of the state’s enrollment woes, he said, not falling birth rates.
“The demographic cliff is a convenient scapegoat sometimes,” he said. “It allows lawmakers and college leaders to say, ‘Oh, well, it’s inevitable. There’s nothing we can do.’”
In 2021 Pennsylvania ranked 49th in the country in public funding for higher education per full-time student, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association’s higher education finance report. Pennsylvania state funding is tied to enrollment and retention outcomes, which, as has been noted, are on the decline.
As a result, the state’s public institutions are also some of the most expensive in the country. The average cost of attending a state institution for a Pennsylvania resident is $26,040, nearly 70 percent more than the national average, making it the third most expensive state for public higher education, according to a recent Education Data Initiative report.
PASSHE chancellor Daniel Greenstein noted that for many Pennsylvania institutions, his own included, the demographic drop-off doesn’t account for the extent of the enrollment declines. While the state’s college-going demographics have fallen by a little over 5 percent, most colleges’ enrollment drops have been well into the double digits.
“We’re the most affordable option in Pennsylvania, but that’s not a high bar. It’s really expensive to go to public college in this state,” Greenstein said. “Price matters a lot, and differentiating based on affordability matters now more than ever. That’s something we’re trying to focus on.”
For Koricich, this is the crux of the problem that he says lawmakers aren’t seeing clearly: less state funding means less affordable college, which in turn contributes to a vicious cycle of enrollment declines and student exodus from the state. Many of those students who might otherwise have gone to regional universities and remained in the area then also resettle after graduating, compounding existing workforce shortages.
“If you keep making college unaffordable to people, why would we be surprised that they want to leave?” he said.
Greenstein echoed those concerns, though he feels that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are willing to help buoy higher education when tied to workforce outcomes. But he said time is of the essence, as neighboring states with more public funding offer similar educational benefits for a fraction of the price—like New York, which offers free tuition for students whose family income is under $125,000 a year.
“When states around us are acting in a very deliberate and aggressive way, you’re gonna find our students leaving the state to get their education, and they don’t come back,” Greenstein said. “At this point we gotta boogie, because we’re not too far off.”
Last summer, PASSHE merged six of its campuses into two multicampus institutions in a process the system called “integration,” in order to cut costs and center student success, according to Greenstein, as well as maintain the system as a driver of workforce development and social mobility in the state.
Bashar Hanna, president of Commonwealth University—which is made up of the former Lock Haven, Bloomsburg and Mansfield University campuses in the rural center and north of the state—said the integration process made a big difference. Not only did it reduce inefficiencies and expenses, he said; it also helped them make the case the case for the commonwealth to students from local school districts by allowing them to combine their resources for recruitment and student success.
Last year enrollments decreased at all three campuses, but Hanna said new student deposits for the fall are up by 8 percent this year.
“Rural Pennsylvania is not thriving … we wanted to make sure that our students were going to college locally, meaning within 75 miles of home, and then the likelihood of them staying after they graduate goes up exponentially,” Hanna said. “We’re not back to pre-COVID enrollment levels, but we’re certainly much better off than we were a few years ago.”
State lawmakers rewarded those efforts by approving PASSHE’s largest budget increase ever last year, at 16 percent. That was followed by another 6 percent increase in this year’s proposed budget, which is currently stalled in the General Assembly.
Other public institutions are still floundering. Penn State has been vocally lobbying for more state support, claiming that it has been comparatively underfunded for years. In September the university requested a 48 percent appropriations increase.
Lisa Maria Powers, Penn State’s assistant vice president of media and executive communications, said the university has had the lowest per-student state funding of any in Pennsylvania for over half a century. According to a university analysis, Penn State is funded at $5,600 per resident student, compared to $8,275 for Temple and $9,049 for Pitt; the national per-student average for state funding was $9,327 in 2021, according to a SHEEO analysis.
PASSHE is also the only state-owned system in Pennsylvania, with a Board of Governors entirely appointed by the governor with approval from the Legislature. Penn State, Pitt and Temple describe themselves as “state-related” and have much more leeway to operate as independent bodies. The majority of their governing boards are elected by alumni.
Koricich said that helps explain why PASSHE has taken on the task of consolidation and fat-trimming while Penn State has left its sprawling network of campuses largely untouched, despite many of them experiencing much higher enrollment declines. But he is not a fan of PASSHE’s integration plan. It has a bevy of critics, in fact, something Koricich realizes comes with the territory of making difficult decisions. He just doesn’t think those decisions were necessary—or that they’ll lead to enrollment increases.
“Now you’ve thrown six regional publics in front of a freight train, for what?” Koricich said. “To me, the state’s willingness to just let PASSHE kind of fall on the sword is missing the fundamental problem here, which is that the flagships are just sucking up all of the oxygen.”
Greenstein said the cuts associated with integration did not affect student services or popular programs.
“We did this to serve students better,” he said. “Somehow, someway, this problem has to be addressed or Pennsylvania higher ed is going to be in a bad state.”
Robert Gregerson, president of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, is working to mitigate the effects of a 27 percent enrollment decline in the past decade. He said that while the Pitt system was too small for mergers to be a consideration there, he understood the path PASSHE was taking.
“The era of continual growth is in the rearview mirror,” he said. “State institutions not only in Pennsylvania but across the Midwest and Northeast are going to have to figure out what rightsizing means for them.”
Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states with no state higher education commission or governing board to oversee its public universities; each institution has a highly prized and carefully guarded autonomy.
For Koricich, that’s part of the problem.
“There is no coordinating board, there is no governing board, there is no referee to say all of these different institutions in different sectors with different finances have to play nicely together,” he said.
Penn State, Koricich said, has benefited the most from this oversight vacuum. With 20 campuses across the state, it is by far the largest higher education presence in Pennsylvania; PASSHE had 14 before its integration plan took effect—it now has 10—and Pitt has five. Koricich said that without state intervention, Penn State has been able to eat away at a dwindling pool of in-state students looking to attend a regional public institution, exacerbating the enrollment crisis for some of the state’s most hard-hit colleges and universities.
“Some of [Penn State’s campuses] are within 30 miles of PASSHE schools; some of them are right on top of community colleges. One of those places has a brand name that everyone recognizes and the others don’t,” he said. “[State lawmakers] have let this behemoth just sort of run roughshod over higher ed in the state, and they haven’t done anything to control it.”
Powers, of Penn State, pushed back on this portrayal. She said the university’s branch locations are crucial to its land-grant mission, and that they serve primarily local populations of underserved students.
“Our Commonwealth Campuses have been around a long time, some nearly 100 years; and all of Penn State’s campuses pre-date the formation of PASSHE. In addition, almost all of our campuses were in place well before the introduction of community colleges in Pennsylvania,” Powers wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed.
Some believe the current crisis requires more coordination between the disparate independent institutions and could lead lawmakers to explore the possibility of a central oversight body. Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat elected last year, called for a rethinking of the loose structure during a budget address in March.
“What we are doing right now isn’t working,” he said. “Colleges are competing with one another for a limited dollar: they’re duplicating degree programs, they’re driving up the cost and they’re actually reducing access.”
Some, like Greenstein, prefer incentives and market-based solutions to the issue; while PASSHE is consolidating campuses, he said the move may not be right for other Pennsylvania institutions.
But Gregerson said that if there were a time to experiment with statewide coordination, it’s now.
“There have been conversations about that in the past which didn’t produce any change. But I think we might be at a point now where folks will take it more seriously,” he said. “Whether there’s the political will for that, I don’t know. But I think it could be helpful.”

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