Leaders Concerned About PSU Campus’ Future

University president: Declining population, ‘flat funding’ are forcing tough choices for 12 regional campuses

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
February 27, 2025
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, State & Region

(Penn State University photo)

Local leaders are expressing concern and support for Penn State University’s campus in McKeesport following an announcement that 12 of the regional or “Commonwealth” branches could be shuttered.

On Tuesday, University President Neeli Bendapudi said that declining enrollment, increasing costs and demographic trends — including the declining population in the western part of Pennsylvania — are forcing the state-related institution to consider the future of its smaller campuses.

In addition to its main campus in Centre County, Penn State has 19 regional or Commonwealth campuses around the state. Campuses in Western Pennsylvania include McKeesport (Greater Allegheny), as well as New Kensington, Beaver County and Fayette County.

“We cannot continue with business as usual,” Bendapudi said. “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.”

McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko, a Penn State alumnus, said the university’s campus is a vital economic force for both the Mon Valley and Allegheny County as a whole.

“Penn State has a long history of commitment to positive outcomes in education as well as community and economic development,” Cherepko said. “Greater Allegheny’s campus leaders, professors, and other professionals are doing their best to make sure students, small business owners, and community members have access to university resources.”

The 59-acre campus straddles the city and White Oak Borough.

White Oak Mayor Ina Jean Marton said she did not want to speculate on the future of Penn State Greater Allegheny, but said she and council members “are very much concerned.”

“We support this fine campus and will do what is necessary to keep it here in White Oak,” Marton said Thursday.

Penn State Greater Allegheny in 2023 celebrated its 75th anniversary with a “Blue & White Watch Party” and festival for alumni, students and the community. The campus, which was founded as the “McKeesport Center” in 1948, originally provided only one-year certificate programs for engineering technology.

In 1955, Penn State relocated to its current campus near Renziehausen Park. Greater Allegheny now offers both two- and four-year degrees. Under the university’s “2+2” plans, students in many programs have the opportunity to start their education at the McKeesport campus and finish at the University Park campus.

In 2021, the university completed a $14 million renovation of the 22,000-square-foot Ostermayer Laboratory building on the McKeesport campus, adding state-of-the-art laboratory and safety equipment to the building, as well as improved classrooms and teaching areas.

“It’s important for students in our region to have access to state-of-the-art university programs right here in their backyard,” said Cherepko, who was among the students to use the “2+2” program.

Although the University Park campus has grown by about 3,000 students since 2020, enrollment at Greater Allegheny, New Kensington, Beaver and other campuses has fallen drastically. Today, about 343 students are enrolled at Greater Allegheny; 10 years ago, according to publicly available figures, there were approximately 700 students.

Besides the educational opportunities provided by Penn State, Cherepko said the university has been an important partner for economic development in the McKeesport area.

The university currently operates a business incubator and community center called the “Mon Valley LaunchBox” in a city-owned building on Fifth Avenue, Downtown, and Greater Allegheny also has taken a role in partnerships between the city and other organizations, including Age-Friendly Health Systems and the Dallas-based Better Block Foundation.

State Sen. Nick Pisciottano called the university’s Greater Allegheny campus “a vital resource” and stressed its importance to both the Mon Valley and Allegheny County.

Pisciottano said he recently met with Greater Allegheny Chancellor Megan Nagel to offer his support to keep the campus open.

“I will remain in contact with Penn State leadership as they work toward a decision on the future of the Commonwealth Campuses in the coming weeks, and continue to advocate for the long-term future of Penn State in Allegheny County,” he said.

Bendapudi said Penn State’s seven largest regional campuses — mostly in the eastern part of Pennsylvania — are not targeted for possible closure.

As for the other locations, she said, “many of the counties that host these campuses are expected to decrease in population for the next 30 years.”

In recent years, Penn State has offered early retirement incentives to faculty and staff and made other moves to cut overhead, which included moving the New Kensington Campus and Fayette Campus under the leadership of a regional chancellor’s office, headed by Nagel and based at Greater Allegheny.

Penn State also increased its marketing efforts and streamlined other aspects of the enrollment system, Bendapudi said, but the moves have not been enough to stabilize the regional campus system.

The university also has lobbied state officials for additional funding to bring it to parity with state universities in other states, she said, “but no significant increases have materialized.”

“We have exhausted reasonable alternatives to maintain the current number of campuses,” she said.

Pisciottanno admitted that the state’s support of Penn State has fallen short of the university’s needs.

“As state budget negotiations continue, I will advocate for additional state funding for Penn State after years of flat funding,” he said.

The Greater Allegheny Campus, he said, “has long been a vital resource for young people in our community to get the education they deserve and need to thrive in the modern world.”

Bendapudi said she has created a task force that includes Margo DelliCarpini, vice president for commonwealth campuses; Tracy Langkilde, interim executive vice president and provost; and Michael Wade, senior vice president and chief of staff.

The three will lead a group that will make a final recommendation “on the future composition of the Commonwealth Campus ecosystem.”

No campuses identified for closure will close before 2027, Bendapudi said, and any students enrolling for 2025 will be able to complete their degree at Penn State, either at their original campus or another campus.

New students will continue to be admitted at all regional campuses for fall 2025, she said.

Jason Togyer is volunteer editor of Tube City Almanac and executive director of Tube City Community Media Inc.

Originally published February 27, 2025.

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