Within the 12 Penn Campus, which are considered to be closed, recording has decreased by 39% in the last 10 years, according to the University. But the decline in enrollment is just one of the factors of the university that the university management will use to decide in which campuses it should close.
In a recent letter to the State Community in Pen, the university staff said-in addition to enrollment, they will also look at the university’s developing mission, changes in the population, experience and success of students and the landscape of higher education in Pennsylvania, while making their recommendation for which campuses should be closed.
However, public record data do not paint a positive picture. All, except two of the 12 campuses, recorded more than 30% decline in entries between 2014 and 2024, and 11 of the 12s observed a decrease in entry by 15% or more in the last five years.
Here is a more detailed consideration of the data.
Recording
Penn Pen Pen Nelly Bandapudi announced last month that 12 of the 19 Commonwealth Campus of Penn State is considered closed, although how many of these 12 and which are not determined. The closing closing campuses are Beaver, Dubois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Hazleton, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Schuylkill, Scranton, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York. Bandapudi pointed to the reduction of recordings and demographic changes as the reasons why campuses would have to close.
None of the 12 campuses who could close, have more than 900 students enrolled in the semester in the fall 2024.
In a small part of the 12 campus, it has observed a slight increase in entries in the last few years. Schuylkill observed a constant increase in entry from the fall of 2021 – about 17.5%, or 104 students.
Between the fall of 2023 and 2024, Dubois scored about a 9% increase or 32 students, and MES Alto observed approximately 4% increase or 25 students. Hazleton also scored about a 9% increase or 42 students between fall 2022 and 2024.
However, in most cases, the record numbers for fall 2024 are not close to what they were in the past.
The 12 campus rely heavily on residents in the home and surrounding cities to enroll in the campus. The letter from university officials cites a report from 2023 from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania and the State and Regional Institute of Pen Harisburg, which designs a 5.8% decline in the population for rural counties in Pennsylvania by 2050.
“Due to this important role in the location of the campus, the estimates of the population in the county are also an important guide that helps us think about the long -term viability of the campus,” the letter said.
Campuses not at risk of closing
Penn State-Abington, Alton, Berend, Berx, Brandivin, Harisburg and Lehi Valley, as well as the campus aimed at graduation in the Grand Valley, will remain open and Pen will continue investing in them, Bendu said earlier.
Enrollment in these campuses has decreased over the years, but the overall recording is, for the bigger part it is more than 1000 in each campus.
Closure
Considered to close the campuses are distributed in Pennsylvania and the proposal has caused criticism throughout the country. Petitions have begun to fight the closure, including in Pen Shenango, Penn Mont Alto, Penn Dyubua and Penn Fayette.
The recommendation for the closure of the Commission should include “Continuing Pen State presence in the northeast and the Pittsburgh regions of the Community” at the request of Bendapudi.
Several of the communities in which the campuses are located have called on Penn State not to close its campuses.
Schuylkill’s Chamber of Commerce has asked Bandapudi to look at the “strongest attention” to maintain the open campus, the Republican Herald recently announced. In a letter written on behalf of the 800 members of the organization, they stated that Penn State Schuylkill offered an affordable higher education experience in a district, which has a lower -nine of the average home of the household.
The letter also marks the increasing recording of the campus.
“Penn State-Schuylkill is the only Commonwealth campus with constantly growing recording,” the letter said, according to the Republican Herald report. “The constant and growing recording is not accidental, but the result of a concentrated strategic direction in support of its growth.”
The Penn State Scranton has the highest enrollment of the 12 campuses of 827 students from the fall of 2024. The mayor and the Scranton Council also asked Penn State to hold the campus open in a letter to the university, The Times-Tribune reported. The letter states that more than half of Penn State Scranton students are from Lackawanna County, and many are first -generation students who can get higher education only because of the proximity to the campus and affordable training.