Penn State details its rationale for campus closures in 143-page report

The seven Pennsylvania State University campuses recommended for closure face declines in enrollment and finances, low student housing occupancy, and a significant backlog in maintenance, according to a 143-page report obtained by The Inquirer.

And things are not expected to get any better with declines in population on the horizon, said the report from a committee appointed by Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi to study the potential closure of 12 of 20 Commonwealth campuses and make recommendations.

“The projected low enrollments pose challenges for creating the kind of robust on-campus student experience that is consistent with the Penn State brand,” said the report, which recommended the closure of the DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, York, Wilkes-Barre, and Shenango campuses. “Keeping them open would require an estimated $19 million in annual financial support, $21 million in annual overhead expense, and more than $200 million in future facilities investment — resources that could be redirected to enhance and strengthen the campuses that remain.”

» READ MORE: Penn State administration is proposing to close seven Commonwealth campuses

The board of trustees is expected to discuss the recommendation at a private meeting Thursday. Bendapudi has endorsed the committee’s recommendations to the board.

Board chair David M. Kleppinger said in an interview that he anticipates holding a public meeting to vote on the plan in the next week or two.

“The input that we’ve received from a variety of constituents is that the uncertainty creates anxiety, and the best solution to eliminate uncertainty is to get to a final conclusion,” he said.

Despite a few board members who have spoken out publicly against closing campuses, Kleppinger said he is optimistic the board will support the recommendation.

It would take a simple majority of the more than 30-member board to pass the plan.

Collectively, the seven campuses, which are spread from Western Pennsylvania to Northeastern Pennsylvania, enrolled nearly 3,200 students as of the fall semester and experienced enrollment declines over the last five years ranging from 15% at York to 32% at DuBois, according to enrollment data on the university’s website.

At Mont Alto, Penn State’s oldest Commonwealth campus, dating back to 1901, only 122 students were living in campus housing as of October 2024, which represents about 40% occupancy, the report said. At the Shenango campus, enrollment had declined 67.7% since its peak in 2004.

» READ MORE: Penn State’s plan to close some Commonwealth campuses gets pushback from faculty and two trustees

The five that were studied but not recommended for closure are Hazleton, Schuylkill, Beaver, Greater Allegheny, and Scranton. The committee recommended they remain open and receive “focused investment … based on their strategic importance, financial resilience, academic offerings, regional relevance, and/or potential to absorb and support students from closing campuses.”

The report noted pluses for these campuses, from new esport facilities at Beaver to Penn State’s only undergraduate clinical research program at Allegheny.

The three Commonwealth campuses in the Philadelphia region — Brandywine, Abington, and the graduate education-focused campus at Great Valley — were not considered for closure. They are among the system’s largest. The others not considered for closure are Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Harrisburg, and Lehigh Valley.

» READ MORE: Penn State plans to close some Commonwealth campuses

The committee, headed by Margo DelliCarpini, vice president for Commonwealth campuses; Michael Wade Smith, senior vice president and chief of staff; and Tracy Langkilde, interim executive vice president and provost, noted the difficult enrollment landscape Penn State faces. Another dip in the number of high school graduates nationwide is expected to start next year, with some areas of the state projecting more acute population drops than others, and state funding has lagged.

Closures and mergers are happening more frequently regionally and nationally. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education already merged six of its universities into two new entities. The University of the Arts and Cabrini University shut last June, while Rosemont College announced it will close for good in 2028.

“In the face of shrinking public investment and a shifting demographic landscape, Penn State must act with foresight and courage,” said the report, which included pages of data analysis, profiles of each campus, and arguments for why each should close or remain open, plus financial projections.

Smith, one of the committee leaders, said the plan allows the campuses two years before closure — time to help students finish their degrees or transfer, to help faculty and staff prepare for the transition, and for the administration to decide what to do with those campuses. The university is committing to keeping tenured faculty and honoring contracts for nontenured faculty, he said.

“Neeli is trying to prioritize act[ing] now so we can act compassionately, we can act thoughtfully, and we can do right by Penn State’s mission, certainly, but right by our people in the short term,” he said. “We really believe that this is going to leave Penn State stronger in the end.”

Commonwealth campuses have seen declining enrollment since 2010, some more precipitously than others. At the 12 campuses reviewed, enrollment slid by 51.3% since 2010 and by 35% in the last decade alone, the report said. Ten of the campuses enrolled fewer than seven students in more than 20% of their classes.

And despite university investments, they have continued to slide, the report said.

The seven campuses proposed to be shuttered in two years currently enroll 3.6% of Penn State‘s total students and employ 3.4% of faculty and 2.2% of staff.

By closing the campuses, the university will erase an annual net loss of nearly $20 million in direct expenses, which could be redirected toward programs and employees who serve a larger proportion of the student body at the 13 campuses that will remain open, the report said. It also means the university would not have to cover more than $200 million in maintenance backlog and capital investments, the report said.

The seven-campus closure plan is likely to face pushback from faculty and some trustees, who already have objected to closing campuses and called for more transparency in the process and more time for consideration.

“It was very disappointing to see the name of my campus there,” Julio Palma, an associate professor of chemistry at Fayette in Western Pennsylvania, said after The Inquirer published on Monday the list of seven campuses recommended for closure. “But I think this is once more a failure in the leadership of this university. … They haven’t been transparent. The process has been very secretive.”

He called the pace of decision-making “dangerous” and “reckless.”

The process should have started with an analysis of enrollment and projected population, but also with an eye toward “innovation,” he said.

Thursday’s meeting of the trustees to discuss the plan should be held in public and in person, not in private on Zoom, and the public should be allowed to speak, he said.

Josh Wede, chair of Penn State’s faculty senate, also said the discussions should be held in public and said the secrecy has only contributed to morale problems.

“We have asked for transparency in the process from the beginning, and our recommendations have been ignored,” said Wede, a teaching professor of cognitive psychology at University Park.

The senate has not yet taken a position on the seven campuses proposed for closure, but Wede said more time is needed.

“The campuses are facing challenges on multiple fronts, and we need to take a hard look at how all of the campuses fit into the Penn State ecosystem,” he said. “This is something we should have been doing for the past 20 years and failed to do so. But with such a large decision, we need to take the time to get this right.”

The president of the Penn State chapter of the American Association of University Professors also raised concerns that closing Commonwealth campuses could “roll back recent improvements in serving students from underrepresented backgrounds — Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Native Alaskan, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The administration credited such gains in diversity to the accessible ‘flexible’ Commonwealth Campus model and recruitment in diverse cities such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia …"

Wede said Commonwealth campuses are more diverse socioeconomically than University Park.

Langkilde, the interim provost, said Penn State will continue to serve a significant number of Pell Grant-eligible students.

“There’s no change in our focus on doing that important access-oriented work,” Langkilde said.

Factors considered in making the recommendations, in addition to enrollment trends and population projections, included “academic program vitality” and student success, financial performance, housing occupancy, and maintenance backlog.

The committee also looked at other colleges within a 30-mile and 50-mile radius, the report said, and aimed to maintain a campus or campuses in the Pittsburgh area and Northeastern Pennsylvania.