HACC announces 87 job cuts as it sells York campus buildings

Harrisburg Area Community College announced plans to eliminate 87 jobs amid larger budget cuts that include the sale of two York campus buildings.

Additionally, the HACC system plans to cut 41 positions that were already vacant. It’s not clear how many positions were being cut from the York campus. HACC informed its employees April 10.

Officials cited declining enrollment and rising healthcare costs as reasons for the cuts. On April 7, the college’s board of trustees adopted a $128 million budget for the 2026-2027 year, which included more cost-cutting measures for the second year in a row.

About a month ago, HACC put two of the York campus buildings up for sale.

“The college is evaluating all campus buildings based on factors such as on-campus student enrollment, deferred maintenance needs and overall building utilization,” a HACC spokesperson said in a written statement to the York Daily Record.

HACC, in its statement, noted that it would be putting certain buildings up for sale and lease this year. Those impacted by the changes were notified in January and have been updated since then, the spokesperson said.

In written statements, HACC said the efforts were part of a push to “better align facilities with current and future student academic needs” and do not represent losing the York campus or HACC withdrawing from the York community.

With the new budget’s passing, the college said, “Compounding structural pressures could have resulted in a deficit approaching $10 million without intervention.”

It added that the structural pressures included three consecutive years of flat state appropriations, a 1.8% projected enrollment decline, 11 % rising health care costs and more.

“These pressures converged simultaneously and left the college with a clear choice: act decisively now or face a deficit that would deepen subsequent years,” the release said, explaining that the short-term and long-term initiatives will cut the deficit to $5 million.

The release adds that the college will continue to use cost-cutting measures to address the “projected deficit and remain fiscally responsible in the years to come.”

When the budget was passed last year on April 1, 2025, officials opted to raise tuition and use cost-saving measures to offset a projected $275,000. Some of the cost-saving measures included consolidating real estate and leases.