Some Penn State Campuses To Close

PENNSYLVANIA — Some of Pennsylvania State University's 20 campuses across the state will close under a plan university President Neeli Bendapudi announced to the campus community on Tuesday.

Bendapudi cited continued declining enrollment at many of the branch campuses as the reason, and said many of the counties where they are located are expected to suffer population decreases for the next 30 years.

"Given these realities, we must make hard decisions now to ensure Penn State’s future remains strong," Bendapudi said in a statement."It has become clear that we cannot sustain a viable Commonwealth Campus ecosystem without closing some campuses."

Bendapudi said the seven largest branch campuses – Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg, and Lehigh Valley – along with the graduate focused campus at Great Valley, will remain open. Those campuses compose nearly 75 percent of total branch campus enrollments and 67 percent of campus faculty and staff.

Additionally, the three special mission campuses — Penn State Dickinson Law, the College of Medicine and the Pennsylvania College of Technology — will continue to operate as they are.

Bendapudi has appointed a group of university officials to study which of the remaining 12 campuses to close. Those branches are Beaver, DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Hazleton, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Schuylkill, Shenango, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and York.

The panel is expected to make its recommendations to Bendapudi by the end of this semester and she expects to make a decision before commencement.

“We have exhausted reasonable alternatives to maintain the current number of campuses,” Bendapudi said. “We now must move forward with a structure that is sustainable, one that allows our strongest campuses — where we can provide our students with the best opportunities for success and engagement — to thrive, while we make difficult but necessary decisions about others.”

No campus identified for closure will close before the end of the 2026-27 academic year. That will allow associate degree students enrolling in fall 2025 enough time to complete their degrees and 2+2 bachelor’s degree students enough time to reach the point at which they would move to another Penn State campus, officials said.

Bendapudi said the university will explore opportunities for reassignment within Penn State for faculty and staff at the campuses to be closed and will provide them career transition support. She also pledged that students will have a clear and well-supported academic pathway to that they can complete their degrees at Penn State, either at another campus or online.

"I understand that this news is difficult," Bendapudi said. "Change of this magnitude is deeply personal for the students, faculty, staff and communities who have given so much to these campuses."