Matthew Meyers, President & CEO, Pennsylvania Institute of Technology
In an interview with Invest:, Matthew Meyers, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology (P.I.T.), described how a historically workforce-focused college is navigating the first real headwinds in higher education, from demographic decline to rising regulatory complexity. “We look at county, township, and state data on high-priority occupations, talk with industry partners, and then try to align those needs with what students are interested in pursuing,” Meyers noted.
What shifts are you seeing in higher ed and the workforce, and how is P.I.T. responding?
Over the last few years, and especially in the past year, higher education has gone from long-standing tailwinds to real headwinds. For decades, growth was substantial and broad-based for many institutions. Now, we are seeing declining populations of college-age students and increasingly complex regulatory systems that make running a college more challenging. Expectations around federal regulations, accreditation, and the structures that allow students to access funding have all become more intricate. For a smaller college like P.I.T., that raises real questions about whether we have the resources to meet those expectations in the way the government prescribes. At the same time, our mission has remained consistent and, in many ways, well aligned with where things are headed. We are workforce-focused. We are a relatively low-tuition private college, and our programs are built around careers students can step into immediately after graduation. We want to stay in that position where students pay a modest price for really strong outcomes.
Where is employer demand growing most, and how do your programs align with those needs?
We were founded as an engineering college in the 1950s when our founder, who was the lead engineer for Boeing at the time, saw a need for people with skills — not necessarily bachelor’s or master’s degrees but having the ability to do the job. He started his own college to teach those skills and, eventually, to hire graduates. We have tried to keep that spirit alive by continually asking what the workforce needs. The challenge is that workforce needs and student interests do not always line up. A good example is a former biomedical equipment engineering program. There is a real need in society and a strong career and financial upside in maintaining medical equipment, but most prospective students do not know what that career is. Bookkeeping is another example: Many small businesses need well-trained bookkeepers, but very few students wake up saying they want to learn QuickBooks. Relevance comes from marrying workforce demand with what will actually get a student into a seat. We look at county, township, and state data on high-priority occupations, talk with industry partners, and then try to align those needs with what students are interested in pursuing.
How are you meeting evolving student expectations and supporting them to completion?
This is our bread and butter. We cannot compete financially with state community colleges because our tuition is going to be a bit higher. We also cannot match the scale of services at very large institutions. What we can do, and what we strive to be the best at, are wraparound services. I was told years ago that students need three types of support to succeed in college: financial, academic, and emotional. Financial aid and academic coaching are common. The emotional piece — what happens when you get a bad test grade or something difficult happens outside the classroom — is often left to a personal support system. At P.I.T., we have tried to build parts of that support system into the college. Over the past few years, we hired a parenting student success coach because about 60% of our students are student parents. Their needs are very different from those of traditional students, so that role helps with things like childcare, housing, and food insecurity, and serves as a conduit to community resources. We have also partnered with a mental health organization to provide students with a number of free counseling sessions each year; they do not have to ask or qualify, they just have access. Recently, we opened our Student Care Center, which has been broadly supported by the regional community. It provides basic necessities that many of us take for granted — toothbrushes, shampoo, toilet paper, baby diapers and wipes, formula, and similar essentials. A lot of our students are adults who worked full-time before enrolling. When they come here, the coursework and expectations are high, and they quickly realize they cannot keep working the same hours. Suddenly they are choosing between paying the electric bill and feeding their family. If we do not help address those realities, college is often the first thing they cut. Our goal is to remove as many of those barriers as we can so they have fewer reasons to step away before they finish.
How does hands-on learning and clinical experience create direct pathways to jobs?
We have several medical programs that place students in clinical sites across the region, including Mainline Health, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Jefferson, University of Pennsylvania, and many other regional hospitals and networks. For a lot of our students, it is their first real entry into the workforce. In some programs, like nursing, clinical faculty from the college go with them and train them hands-on. In others, like diagnostic medical sonography, students may walk into a hospital in their first week, having never worked in that environment before, and rely on our partners to help train them on the job. One of the biggest benefits is confidence. Students may not have the knowledge or the experience at first, but starting that hands-on work early helps them build both. It also gives them an early chance to decide whether the field is truly right for them. Sometimes a student realizes that something isn’t what they thought it was. That realization is far better in the first semester than after years of study. We all know how TV can glamorize certain careers; when you actually step into a hospital, it can feel very different.
The healthcare industry has been incredibly supportive in training the next generation, but placements are not easy. In our electrocardiography program, for example, we cap enrollment at about 12 students a year, not because demand is low but because there are only so many clinical opportunities locally. We will then take additional online students who live far enough away that we can help them secure placements near their homes. There is nothing better than working with your hands and getting a real feel for both the tasks and the industry from the beginning.
What are your top priorities for new programs and advancing students’ careers?
Our core mission is to provide students with opportunities to enter the workforce, not to fit a traditional label. We are primarily a medical school in terms of program mix right now, but that does not define us, it just reflects where the market is.
One of our newer and rapidly growing areas is cannabis studies. We were the first in the country to offer a regionally accredited degree in cannabis studies, and that has expanded our reach from the tri-state area to students in 24 states last year. It is an example of an emerging field where there are real jobs, real money, and real growth, but where many public institutions cannot yet participate. We are actively looking for other emerging career fields where we can play a similar role.
At the same time, we are focused on further credentialing for students who are already here. A good example is our practical nursing students who complete a one-year program to enter the workforce quickly. We are developing an LPN-to-RN bridge program to bring them back for another year so they can advance their careers and earning potential. As a primarily two-year college, students are constantly coming and going. If we can retain them longer, help them stack credentials, and send them into the market with stronger prospects, it is better for the college’s longevity and, more importantly, better for them.
