Penn State’s president announced that the university will close some campuses due to declining enrollment
- Penn State University plans to close some of its 19 smaller commonwealth campusesin the coming years as it faces financial and demographic pressures, university President Neeli Bendapudi said Tuesday.
- Bendapudi tasked three Penn State officials with leading a group that will make a final recommendation in the coming weeks on which of 12 campuses under review should close.
- Excluded from the review are Penn State’s seven largest commonwealth campuses — in Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg and Lehigh Valley.Those locations account for 75% of Penn State’s commonwealth enrollment and 67% of faculty and staff, Bendapudi said.
Dive Insight:
Bendapudi attributed the decision to cut the university’s commonwealth footprint to changing demographics, noting that populations of many of the commonwealth campuses’ home counties are expected to decline over the next three decades.
