Declining enrollments, higher costs and limited state funding continue to challenge higher education institutions, and possible mergers continue to surface as an option to meeting those challenges. In Pennsylvania, a new study sponsored by the Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee identifies options to help ensure the sustainability of the State System of Higher Education, and mergers factor into those considerations. However, in Connecticut a plan to merge the state’s 12 community colleges into one was rejected last month by its regional accrediting authority, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).