What’s next for Penn State campus closures, future site reuse? Leaders give update
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Penn State advances closure planning for seven campuses, engaging local stakeholders
- Officials pursue site-specific reuse deals, citing three or four potential prospects.
- University waives 19+ credit surcharge and suspends student fee at closing campuses
Seven Penn State commonwealth campuses are slated to close at the end of the spring 2027 semester, but the university will continue to focus this year on what’s next for the properties, faculty and staff.
There is not a one-size-fits all approach when it comes to planning for the future use of campus properties, the university said in a written statement provided to the Centre Daily Times. The university denied an interview request on what is anticipated to happen this year in terms of planning for the closures.
“Penn State continues to engage with communities as local stakeholders explore potential future uses, with timelines varying based on campus-specific factors. We anticipate progress will occur incrementally and will share additional information as it becomes available,” a university spokesperson said.
The board of trustees heard an update on the progress during an executive committee meeting Thursday from Renata Engel, vice president for commonwealth campuses and executive chancellor, Mike Stefan, vice president for government and community relations; and Robert Fenza, member of the board of trustees. In May, the board approved closing the DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York campuses after the spring 2027 semester.
Fenza said it is a challenging endeavor, but the team is committed to finding and delivering solutions for the seven communities where a campus is slated to close. They currently have three or four “potential deals emerging,” Fenza said, but did not go into details, including which campuses or what it could entail.
“(There are) a few others that we are still working to hammer out, who would be the anchor, who will be the tenant, etc., verifying information that the communities are desperately looking for, and then trying to figure out some of the dynamics in some of these communities,” Fenza said. “So we’re navigating some of the areas of Pennsylvania where we’re trying to satisfy multiple interests and bring it all together with a successful outcome.”
Stefan said all the parties they’ve talked with are engaged and invested in the outcomes of the campuses, and each campus is making progress.
“We’ve said from the beginning that we don’t view all of these campuses having a resolution at the same time, that we will work with the pace of each campus on their own, and hopefully they find that opportunity at their pace. So we are hoping to be at a point where we can soon start to really digest these opportunities and start getting into the weeds with all of you around opportunities as we move forward,” he said.
Changes for students at closing commonwealth campuses
Engel said the workstream teams have been working on implementing suggestions for the current and remaining semesters at the closing campuses. Beginning this semester, students who are enrolled at a closing campus are able to take more than 19 credits a semester without an additional tuition surcharge, Engel said. The same will apply for the fall and spring 2027 semester.
“The reason we wanted to do this was because we wanted to make sure that the students that are at the campuses that are closing that intended to be there for their full degree programs, they could make as much progress as possible before having to relocate to another campus, and this will afford them the opportunity do that without additional financial expense,” she said.
Additionally, the student initiated fee, which is determined by a student group, will not be assessed during the next academic year for campuses that are closing. Students will still have access to the support and engagement opportunities that the fees typically provide.
The roadmap site has been updated for students as well, which includes scenario guides. The university launched a survey through its advising system, Starfish, to gather information from students on their enrollment intentions for next year, and what additional support they need.
What’s next for faculty and staff?
To support the faculty and staff, Engel said the hiring priority process that started in the summer has been used regularly across the university. It’s used by hiring managers to make sure non-tenure line faculty and staff at closing campuses have priority hiring for posted positions. Engel said they’re making progress on work associated with the tenure line reassignment process.
Reassignments won’t take effect until fall 2027, she said, but the process of identifying where faculty are needed is underway.
“We completed a survey with the faculty to identify key information and helping us with that reassignment process, and that work will be ongoing this semester, with the intent of being able to work through that process and be able to identify and tell faculty that are in tenure positions at the campuses for closing where their reassignment will be,” Engel said. “We’d like to be able to complete that work by the end of this fiscal year.”
If there are open tenure line positions now, there is another process to help reassign faculty. Engel said at the start of the process, there were 86 faculty members who are tenure line at a closing campus that needed to be reassigned. Through various processes, Engel said they’re already down below 60 who need to be reassigned.
In terms of curriculum planning, Engel said they’ve identified programs that will open at new campuses, including the wildlife and forestry technology programs, both at the Altoona campus. Earlier in the summer, they said the associate degree programs biomedical engineering technology and radiological sciences at the New Kensington campus will be relocated to Penn State Greater Allegheny.
“If we look at the enrollment, the interest in the programs, the applications, etc., we are seeing really impressive growth in associate degrees at Greater Allegheny, and it’s a result of some of those early decisions we made,” Engel said. “So I think there’s a good indication at the stage we’re in that these decisions we’re making, both thoughtful with good information to the right places, with the right audiences that we will reach, are bearing the kinds of outcomes that we had envisioned us seeing.”
They’re continuing to look at other degree programs and where they’ll be located and how it will take place, she said.
Fenza credited Engel and Stefan for their patience and hard work that will continue as the year progresses.
“I want to remind everyone of the complexity of the path that we have chosen. Identifying and bundling educational, job skill training, health care training, nursing training, and other community needs and interests that may or may not be economically capable, then matching their timelines with our timeline, while attempting to satisfy a myriad of political interests, all against the backdrop which most educational endeavors are struggling with declining enrollments and strain resources,” Fenza said. “It’s infinitely more challenging than the other path we could have chosen, which is putting up sales signs and walking away.”
