March 06, 2023

PASSHE’S Plan to Address Pennsylvania’s Engineering Shortage

Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu

Harrisburg, PA – Pennsylvania and the nation have a persistent shortage of engineers needed to build critical infrastructure, such as expanded broadband, roads and bridges, water services, and rail, air and clean energy projects, and to support manufacturing and other opportunities in the economy.

Unless we strengthen the talent pipeline by educating and training more engineers, these projects risk being delayed, scaled back, or eliminated.

Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) has a plan to help address the shortage of engineers. The State System is seeking $112 million in state funding to produce more graduates in six in-demand, high-growth jobs, including engineering.

PASSHE would allocate $3 million¬ to support engineering – $1.5 million to expand the high-cost program and $1.5 million to provide direct financial relief – saving high-need engineering students an average of $5,000 per year.

Across the System, there are dynamic stories of engineering students gaining innovative skills for rewarding careers that can save and improve lives. Our commonwealth needs more of these students to expand the pipeline of talent entering the workforce.

Making a degree more affordable would encourage additional people to pursue careers as civil engineers, electrical engineers, industrial engineers, mechanical engineers and more.

Separately, PASSHE is seeking $573.5 million, an inflationary increase of $21 million, enabling the Board of Governors to consider freezing the basic in-state undergraduate tuition rate for an unprecedented fifth consecutive year.

As the state’s public university system, PASSHE is ready to tackle the need for more engineers and help the private sector take advantage of economic opportunities.

With increased state investment, PASSHE can increase enrollment of engineering students by 8% and strengthen the pipeline of future engineers. Closing the labor gap in engineering is critical to updating aging infrastructure, expanding broadband, and supporting growth in manufacturing, renewable technology, robotics, and Pennsylvania’s flourishing biotech sector.

For more information about the State System’s plan to address labor shortages in the six high-growth fields of education, nursing, computer science, engineering, social services and business, or to see a budget request summary, visit the Advocacy Resource Center.

Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is the public university system of the commonwealth with a mission to provide a high-quality education at the lowest possible cost to students. With 90% of its students from Pennsylvania, PASSHE educates approximately 85,000 degree-seeking students, with thousands more in certificate and career programs. The universities collectively offer more than 2,300 degree and certificate programs in more than 530 academic areas. Across the System, there are more than 800,000 living alumni, most of whom live in Pennsylvania.