After declaring Pennsylvania’s higher education system broken, Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed last week a sweeping overhaul that would consolidate most schools under the same system and reduce tuition for many students, writes Stephanie Saul for The New York Times.

The plan would place ten of the state universities and all 15 community colleges under one governance umbrella, increase state funding for public higher education, and make it possible for students with low to middle incomes to only pay $1,000 a semester in tuition.

Most of these proposed changes would not affect the best-known public universities in the state, including Penn State, Pittsburgh, and Temple.

“After 30 years of disinvestment, too many of our colleges and universities are running on empty, and not enough students have affordable pathways into good jobs,” said Shapiro.

The governor, who complained about problems in Pennsylvania’s higher education system shortly after he took office in 2023, formed a working group that has been working on the overhaul for the past year.

Shapiro did not yet disclose the dollar amount of the proposal and whether new taxes would be levied or university departments reduced to cover the costs.

Read more about Shapiro’s sweeping overhaul of Pennsylvania’s vast higher education system in The New York Times.

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