The university’s seven largest branch campuses— Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg, and Lehigh Valley — will remain open. But the other 12 will be scrutinized for closure, with a decision being made by spring commencement.
Declining enrollments, demographic shifts and financial pressures will require Penn State to close some of its 19 branch campuses, the school’s president Neeli Bendapudi said Tuesday.
In a message posted to Penn State’s website, Bendapudi said the university’s seven largest branch campuses — Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg, and Lehigh Valley — will remain open.
But the other 12 will be scrutinized for closure by an internal team that will deliver a recommendation to Bendapudi for a decision she said she’ll deliver by spring commencement.
Bendapudi said Penn State has tried to save the campuses, but enrollments are declining at most schools and populations in nearby areas are projected to continue declining.
“Given these realities, we must make hard decisions now to ensure Penn State’s future remains strong,” Bendapudi said. “It has become clear that we cannot sustain a viable Commonwealth Campus ecosystem without closing some campuses.”
Historically, the smaller campuses draw most of their students from their local area, and it’s not realistic to recruit elsewhere to maintain those enrollments, she said. About 6,000 students were enrolled at those 12 schools last fall, out of about 23,000 total at the branch campuses, according to Penn State’s data.
Bendapudi said the school’s graduate education-focused campus at Great Valley, Penn State Dickinson Law, the College of Medicine and the Pennsylvania College of Technology will remain open.
No campus will close before the end of the 2026-27 academic year, Bendapudi said.
