Penn State University announces plans to close some satellite campuses across Pennsylvania
Penn State University has identified a set of 12 branch campuses that it could close as the university faces financial pressures and declining enrollment, President Neeli Bendapudi said in a letter to the community on Tuesday.
Called "Commonwealth Campuses," Penn State has 19 satellite campuses away from State College that offer classes and some undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Bendapudi said the seven largest of those branches — Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg and the Lehigh Valley — are not on the chopping block. Specialty-focused campuses are also not in danger, like the education-focused Great Valley campus or the Dickinson Law, College of Medicine and Pennsylvania College of Technology campuses.
Which Penn State campuses may be closing?
The following 12 Penn State Commonwealth Campuses are up for potential closure:
- Beaver
- DuBois
- Fayette
- Greater Allegheny
- Hazleton
- Mont Alto
- New Kensington
- Schuylkill
- Scranton
- Shenango
- Wilkes-Barre
- York
A group of top leaders will lead a group and provide Bendapudi with a final recommendation on which will shut down. Some will stay open, Bendapudi said.
"While it is clear that not all 12 campuses can continue, it is equally clear that a number of them will," her letter states.
The campuses identified for closure would not shut down until at least the end of the 2026-27 academic year. So if a student enrolls in the 2+2 program — where an undergrad does two years of school at one campus before transferring to another — for fall 2025, they will be able to complete their first two years at any campus open today.
The university will continue admitting and making offers to students at all of the campuses, Bendapudi added.
Why is Penn State closing some campuses?
Bendapudi said multiple factors are behind the pressures facing the Commonwealth Campuses. They mostly enroll students from their surrounding areas, and many Commonwealth Campuses are in areas where the population is declining and is projected to for the next three decades or more.
Another factor is state funding. Penn State is a "state-related" university, a unique legal category shared by only three other schools in the commonwealth: Lincoln University, Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh.
Funding for the state-related institutions has remained flat over the past five state budgets, despite the universities requesting increases.
When will students know which campuses are closing?
Bendapudi said the team will issue her a final recommendation by the end of the semester or before, and she will make a final decision before spring commencement (ceremonies begin May 9, per the university website).
Faculty and staff at the campuses that close may be able to be reassigned to other campuses. Students will have a "clear and well-supported academic pathway so every single student can complete their degrees at Penn State, either at another campus or online."
In January, CBS News Pittsburgh spoke to students at the Greater Allegheny, also known as McKeesport, campus who were concerned about a possible closure. Some students said if that campus closed, their options would be limited, and another Penn State campus might be too far away.
