Greater Allegheny Spared by Penn State Board

McKeesport campus survives cuts; seven other campuses to close

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
May 23, 2025
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

A graphic provided by Penn State University shows the location of all of the regional, or commonwealth, campuses, as well as those slated to close. (Courtesy Penn State University)

Local officials and Penn State students and alumni are breathing a sigh of relief over the decision by the university’s board of trustees to keep the Greater Allegheny Campus open.

Seven other campuses will close under the plan approved by the board — although not without controversy — during a live-streamed meeting on Thursday night.

Penn State University currently has 20 regional, or “commonwealth,” campuses. The proposal approved by a 25 to 8 vote would close campuses in New Kensington, Fayette County and five other locations. Penn State is promising additional investment in the remaining locations, including Greater Allegheny.

“I love it,” State Rep. Dan Goughnour of McKeesport said. “I’m saddened that some campuses are being shuttered. I was hoping that there was a solution to keeping them all open. But obviously (Greater Allegheny) is near and dear to my heart and I’m happy that the administration and the board saw the value in it.”

Now, he said, the state General Assembly needs to look at funding options to support the network of commonwealth campuses, which have been plagued by increasing costs, decreasing enrollment, and stagnant support from Pennsylvania’s budget.

“It all comes down to funding,” Goughnour said. “And we’ve got to be cautious on spending, but also we’ve got to put our money where our mouths are when it comes to providing higher education to those who want it.”

The plan to close seven regional campuses was leaked to the media last week ahead of a planned May 15 meeting of Penn State’s board of trustees.

The leaked report — and news that Penn State trustees had already discussed the report in private — set off waves of recriminations and allegations that the decision was being made in secret, without transparency.

Titled “Future State Recommendation: Commonwealth Campus Ecosystem,” the report was prepared by Penn State administrators Margo DelliCarpini, Tracy Langkilde and Michael Wade Smith. It noted that although Greater Allegheny lost $4 million in academic year 2023-24, the campus was strategically important for several reasons.

The authors noted that Greater Allegheny offers the university’s only undergraduate clinical research program and Penn State’s only four-year social work degree, and that its programs focus on fields that match Pittsburgh-area workforce demands.

In addition, Greater Allegheny was one of a relative handful of campuses with on-site housing for students. The others are strictly commuter campuses.

“I am thrilled to see that the Penn State administration recognizes the unique role that Greater Allegheny plays not just for McKeesport and our region, but for the higher education ecosystem across Pennsylvania,” said State Sen. Nick Pisciottano, West Mifflin.

He cited the report’s finding that Greater Allegheny serves a high percentage of students who are the first members of their families to attend college — over half of the campus’s students are first-generation college students, over 40 percent receive federal student aid through Pell Grants, and over a quarter identify as underrepresented minorities.

“Greater Allegheny 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,” Pisciottano said. “It is crucial that the campus continues to serve its diverse student population and get them the skills needed to fill critical workforce needs in our region.”

As part of the plan, Penn State said, the university will close seven campuses after the spring of the 2026-27 academic year, while continuing to invest in 13 others.

In addition to Fayette and New Kensington, campuses scheduled to close include DuBois, Mont Alto, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York campuses.

The authors of the report said that each of the campuses scheduled to close face increased demographic pressures — namely, declining populations in their counties, as well as a declining number of young people in the local educational systems.

System-wide, enrollment at all of the regional campuses has dropped from 34,772 students in 2010 to 23,469 students in 2024 — a 32.5 percent decline.

At Greater Allegheny, enrollment has fallen from an all-time high of 798 students in 2004 to 353 students in 2024.

“I know that change of this magnitude is tremendously difficult for our students and employees who learn and work on the campuses that will close,” Penn State University President Neeli Bendapudi said in a prepared release. “These were incredibly tough decisions, and we did not make them lightly.”

However, Bendapudi said, the moves will allow the university to focus its resources on the remaining campuses. The report’s authors said that all of the remaining Commonwealth Campuses — including Greater Allegheny — require capital investment to address years of deferred maintenance.

“These recommendations, now ratified by the board, will allow our campuses to be competitive and responsive to the needs of students, employers and communities, particularly during times of great change in higher education, and in the face of demographic realities,” Bendapudi said.

Pisciottano noted that local officials, including Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, a McKeesport native, had stayed in close contact with Bendapudi and Regional Chancellor Megan Nagel to press the importance of Greater Allegheny to the Mon Valley region.

“I am extremely proud that this important community asset will remain open,” Pisciottano said. “Penn State Greater Allegheny offers its students the kind of affordable access to high-quality higher education that we owe every Pennsylvanian, and I will continue to fight to fund Penn State and our other state-related universities to make that opportunity available to even more students in the future.”

Penn State officials said that after the fall 2025 semester, no new students will be enrolled at the campuses that are closing. Students pursuing two-year associate’s degrees will have the opportunity to complete those programs, while those pursuing four-year degrees will be encouraged to transfer to another Penn State campus at the end of the 2026-27 academic year.

The University will provide transition support for faculty and staff at the closing campuses, Tracy Langkilde, Penn State interim executive vice president and provost, said in a prepared statement.

Tenured faculty and those in their probationary periods will be offered reassignments to ther campuses, Langkilde said. Non-tenured faculty and staff employees will receive priority consideration to other Penn State jobs, she said.

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

Originally published May 23, 2025.

In other news:
"Duquesne Councilor Wi…" ||