Penn State President Eric Barron discussed his plan to keep higher education affordable, accessible, and efficient on Bloomberg’s Businessweek podcast last week.

“Education is expensive,” Barron told hosts Carol Massar and Jason Kelly.

Besides cutting the budget, Barron discussed realistic, individual-focused ways to help bring the cost of tuition down. Penn State, he said, incentivizes preparedness. Students should make sure they are ready for college and that they get placed in the right courses. Programs like FastStart, summer courses, accessibility to Commonwealth campuses, and scholarships are ways to retain students. If students can graduate in three and a half years instead of five, they will save lots of money. 

Barron’s also discussed the One Penn State 2025, which will allow students to keep their emails and student IDs if they graduate in good standing in order to prolong their ability to use Penn State resources.

Alumni will have the opportunity to take courses, earn a micro-credential, and utilize campus resources, all without reapplying. Whether an engineer wants to earn a business minor or a chemist wants to take an opera course, both will be able to do so residentially or online.

“You’re still a student,” Barron said of the initiative in the podcast. “Come back any time.” 

Barron passionately addressed the “Varsity Blues” college admissions bribery scandal and its effect on higher education. Barron was quick to claim that Penn State works to make sure there is no favoritism in its admissions process. He said he believes that student success is most important and that students who dishonestly gain admission will have a terrible experience. 

Barron said that students who are prepared for their job and who will continue to be lifelong learners will find professional success. Barron revisited his famous analogy about driving a blue and white sports car to solidify the importance of making the most of collegiate education.

“If you just go to class, you’re driving it 20 miles an hour. You should put that sports car through its paces,” he said. “That’s 1,200 clubs that you can experiment with — things that you’ve never done.”