May 22, 2025 By Zach Petroff 4 min read

Penn State Fayette will be one of seven branch campuses closing after the university’s board of trustees voted 25 to 8 to do so during a Thursday evening virtual session.

Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said the decision was “deeply emotional” but ultimately the right thing to do for the financial future of the university given the declining number of college students.

“We’re not making a technical adjustment, we’re charting a new course for the next century, for the future of our land grant mission,” she said.

In addition to Fayette, the university’s board of trustees voted to shut down the New Kensington, DuBois, Mont Alto, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre, and York campuses. The spring 2027 semester will mark the final term for the campuses.

Bendapudi said the decision was based on several data points, including a 43% drop in enrollment at the schools over the past decade

“We are subsidizing decline at the expense of growth,” she said.

Fayette County Commissioners Vince Vicites said he felt that the university’s financial study should have included input from the people the decision would impact the most.

“We should have had more time. They never gave us a chance to engage in the process. I think they moved too quickly,” he said. “I believe closure shouldn’t have been the path forward.”

Bendapudi announced in February that the board of trustees was considering closing 12 of the university’s 19 branch campuses. Closed-door board meetings this month whittled the list of 12 down to seven.

Commissioner Scott Dunn criticized the closure as a “shortsighted decision,” noting that most trustees focused solely on the bottom line, rather than Penn State’s mission to educate students.

“There is a direct correlation between higher education and poverty. Very simply, the higher educated you are, you are less likely to live in poverty. So at a time in Fayette County when we need to boost higher education to reduce poverty, we are faced with this loss,” Dunn said.

David Morris Kleppinger, chairman of the board of trustees, said the board received 154 public comments this week in regard to the proposed closures.

He explained that many of the comments emphasized the campuses’ roles in serving first-generation and non-traditional students, supporting regional economies, and aiding workforce development. He also noted that some comments questioned whether the proposed closures align with the university’s land-grant mission. Others cited a lack of transparency in the process and called for further analysis, he said.

For nearly two hours, trustees debated whether to support or oppose the closures before ultimately voting on the decision.

Trustee Karen Quintos called the move to close the campus “courageous” and said she trusted the leadership team’s recommendations.

“The numbers are the numbers. We need to continue to set up Penn State for financial success,” Quintos said.

But not all trustees agreed.

Barry Fenchak questioned the accuracy of the university’s budget model that showed a $19 million deficit, and Jay Paterno who took issue with the university finding enough money for athletics but not education.

“Between (football) facility upgrades and the head coach’s contract, we’ve invested nearly $1 billion into football. … When we turn to our commonwealth campuses, they too face challenges, but rather than look for innovation or rely on our unique qualities and leadership the university has always shown … we are given a choice between the status quo or a retreat,” he said.

The Fayette County campus, located in Lemont Furnace, has had a significant drop in enrollment – from more than 1,000 students in 2010 to about 450 this fall.

The report “Future State Recommendation: Commonwealth Campus Ecosystem The Pennsylvania State University” identified regional population decline, economic challenges, and limited demand for in-person education as driving Fayette’s struggles. Its 2024 financial report showed a $3.7 million deficit.

Penn State opened an undergraduate center in Uniontown in 1934 for students unable to take courses at University Park. It closed in 1940 because of World War II but returned in 1965 and moved to its current site in 1968.