Dear Penn State Community,
As I have said many times before, Penn State’s Commonwealth Campus ecosystem is essential to fulfilling our land-grant mission. I believe deeply in the role our campuses play in serving Pennsylvania communities, providing access to education, and driving economic opportunity across the state.
At the same time, we must acknowledge the realities before us. We cannot continue with business as usual. The challenges we face — declining enrollments, demographic shifts and financial pressures — are not unique to Penn State, but they require us to make difficult choices. Across higher education, institutions are grappling with similar headwinds, and we have reached a moment where doing nothing is no longer an option.
For nearly three years, with the support of the Board of Trustees, I have worked with my leadership team to explore many ways to stabilize and strengthen our Commonwealth Campus ecosystem. In addition, the work that has been taking place for more than a year as part of the Road Map for Penn State’s Future has involved many, many people spending countless hours studying our challenges and thinking about potential solutions. We have been collecting data; consulting with campus leadership, faculty and staff; and listening to the needs of our current and future students. We have gained significant knowledge through the Future State initiative, which included regional charette committees to collect input from external partners, and from the Academic Program and Portfolio Review.
We have made enhancements in enrollment management, fought for parity in state funding, and sought new ways to expand access. Yet, despite these efforts, enrollment at many of our Commonwealth Campuses continues to decline, and many of the counties that host these campuses are expected to decrease in population for the next 30 years. Given these realities, we must make hard decisions now to ensure Penn State’s future remains strong. It has become clear that we cannot sustain a viable Commonwealth Campus ecosystem without closing some campuses.
The path forward
At this time, I asked Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and Executive Chancellor Margo DelliCarpini, Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Tracy Langkilde, and Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Michael Wade Smith to co-lead a group that will bring me a final recommendation on the future composition of the Commonwealth Campus ecosystem.
To provide clarity, I want to affirm that our seven largest Commonwealth Campuses – Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg, and Lehigh Valley – along with our graduate education-focused campus at Great Valley, will remain open and we will continue to invest in them. These campuses comprise nearly 75% of total Commonwealth Campus enrollments and 67% of campus faculty and staff. They are positioned for long-term sustainability based on current and projected enrollment, institutional performance, and locations within regions that are stable or growing in population. Our special-mission campuses — Penn State Dickinson Law, the College of Medicine and the Pennsylvania College of Technology — are not part of this process and will continue to operate as they are.
I have charged Margo, Tracy and Michael Wade with recommending which of the remaining 12 campuses should also remain open and which should close. While it is clear that not all 12 campuses can continue, it is equally clear that a number of them will. I have asked Margo, Michael Wade and Tracy to focus on a recommendation that continues to meet our land-grant mission and that will ready us for another century or more of success. Their work in the coming weeks will be focused on making the best possible recommendation to create a strong and sustainable Commonwealth Campus ecosystem for the future.
What I can say definitively:
- No campus identified for closure will close before the end of the 2026-27 academic year, allowing 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 transition to another Penn State campus.
- We will continue extending offers and admitting new students for Fall 2025 at all Commonwealth Campuses.
- Every student who begins a Penn State degree will have the opportunity to complete it at Penn State.
How we got here: What has changed?
Many of you will recall that last year, when asked about campus closures, I said that while they were on the list of possibilities, they were at the very bottom.
I know that some of you are wondering: What changed? Why is this a reality now when it wasn’t then?
It is not a single reason but rather a confluence of factors that have brought us to this point:
- We have considered reasonable options to reverse the trend. When I became president, I wanted to explore every possible avenue before considering closures. I believed — and still believe — that our Commonwealth Campuses matter deeply to Penn State and to the communities we serve.
- The demographic challenges facing Pennsylvania are clearer than ever. Many of the counties where we have Commonwealth Campuses are experiencing population declines that are projected to continue for the next 30 years or more. Historically, our smaller campuses draw most of their students from their local area, and there is no realistic way to recruit nationally or internationally to maintain enrollment at these locations.
- We have made changes in our enrollment management strategy, and, while we have seen success, the overall trend remains challenging. The aggregate demand for Penn State is at an all-time high, University Park is growing, and the rate of decline at many of our Commonwealth Campuses has slowed significantly. Yet, even with these successes, enrollment at the Commonwealth Campuses in aggregate continues to shrink.
- We have made the case for state funding parity, but no significant increases have materialized. We continue to push for fair funding that would bring us in line with our state-related peers, but the reality is we must consider the right model for the future.
We have exhausted reasonable alternatives to maintain the current number of campuses. 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.
The need for action
To provide further clarity on how these decisions are being made, Margo, Tracy and Michael Wade will be sharing data in the coming days to help the community understand some of the factors informing their process. This information will offer a look at the enrollment, demographic, and other realities that have brought us to this moment.
Some have expressed concern that closing or consolidating certain campuses may mark just “phase one” of ongoing cuts or restructuring. I want to be clear: My intention is to determine a comprehensive, long-term course for success. We recognize that no campus can thrive without sufficient support. That is why, once we finalize decisions, we will do so with the intent of preserving a thriving, sustainable Commonwealth Campus ecosystem — one that meets the needs of today’s students and remains robust for the next 100 years.
What comes next
Margo, Tracy and Michael Wade have brought together a small team and are working with urgency. I will receive a final recommendation no later than the end of the semester and expect to make a final decision before spring commencement. While I respect and value the role of shared governance, this particular decision — determining which campuses will remain open and which will close — is an administrative one that I will make. However, faculty, staff and shared governance bodies will be actively engaged in the planning and the transition to support our students, employees and communities as effectively as possible. We also want to be thorough — if we need to adjust the timeline to make the best decisions, we will.
I understand that this news is difficult. Change of this magnitude is deeply personal for the students, faculty, staff and communities who have given so much to these campuses.
Let me be clear: For any campus that experiences a closure in two years, for our:
- Faculty and staff, we will explore both opportunities for reassignment within Penn State and provide career transition support, as possible.
- Students, we will provide a clear and well-supported academic pathway so every single student can complete their degrees at Penn State, either at another campus or online.
Our responsibility to the future
Penn State has adapted and evolved for 170 years. The decisions we make now will position the University for another century of academic, research and service excellence. This is about strengthening Penn State's Commonwealth Campus ecosystem so that it can continue to thrive, in a form that aligns with today's realities.
Thank you for your patience, your dedication, and your continued commitment to our students, our University, and our shared future.
Sincerely,
Neeli Bendapudi
President, Penn State