In February, Governor Josh Shapiro promised to reform the higher education system in Pennsylvania. Details and a time line for change have been sparse since the announcement though… leaving some Republican lawmakers tired of waiting.

This week, a group of senators and representatives announced their own plans for higher education reform, dubbing it the Grow PA plan.

The plan creates two new types of state scholarships, updates existing scholarships, and calls for performance-based funding models.

For new programs, they propose the Grow PA Scholarship Grant. Students who get degrees in high-need workforce areas— such as law enforcement, nursing, and teaching— could get a $5,000 grant for each school year. For every year the student accepts the grant, they would agree to work in Pennsylvania for 15 months. If they accept for all 4 years, they agree to work in Pennsylvania for 5 years.

The second new program would be a Merit-Based Scholarship designed to attract high performing students from out of state. It would also require students to work in PA after graduation in exchange for the grant.

If a student chose to move out of the state, grants would be transferred into loans.

The lawmakers proposed expanding programs like the Ready to Succeed Scholarship, Targeted Industry Support Program, and Foster/Adopted Child Program. Past financial expansion, the bills will propose lowering GPA requirements from 3.25 to 2.5.

"The fastest growing age demographic is 85 and above. The number of kids graduating through our high school pipeline continues to decline. Recently, we have had the smallest kindergarten class enrolled since 1986,” said Senator Scott Martin (R-Lancaster), who lead the announcement. "So when you think about the economics of what we're facing that's not a pretty picture. We've got to figure out a way on how to grow this state, how to draw people in."

The Governor’s reform plan announced in February set forward 3 goals: Combine community colleges and the PASSHE (PA State System of Higher Education) schools into one governance organization, introduce performance based funding, and reduce tuition to $1000 dollars at state schools for families under median income.

During budget hearings, lawmakers were given little details on how the Governor’s reforms were progressing. Dr. Kate Shaw, the Deputy Secretary for Post secondary Education in Pennsylvania’s Department of Education, shared in later hearings that the Governor’s reforms would require a multi-year process. Presidents from community colleges and PASSHE schools have been meeting together to discuss what combining governance would look like.

With two proposals on the table now, and a state legislature that struggles with compromise, time will tell if any significant changes in higher education take place this year.