Keystone College has cut 29 faculty and staff positions as part of an effort to reduce costs at the financially struggling school, the college announced Tuesday.
The dismissals include a few summer furloughs and elimination of vacant positions. The moves are estimated to save $3.5 million a year.
Keystone also said it would no longer enroll new students in chemistry, forensic biology and child and family studies. The school said the programs "historically had lower enrollments."
The college will continue to offer the programs to currently enrolled students. Other realignments include offering pre-professional concentrations under the health sciences program and incorporating environmental biology and studies into the college’s environmental sciences program.
“These decisions were not taken lightly and made with the goal of placing Keystone in the best possible position for future success,” Keystone president John F. Pullo Sr. said in a statement included in a news release announcing the staff moves. Pullo is a WVIA board member.
The changes come a month after Keystone announced the school and an unnamed strategic partner signed a letter of intent on a deal that will ensure the school stays open.
"The current and future challenges that face many higher education institutions seem to be increasing every day. We are now starting to see those spread increasingly from the private colleges and universities to the public ones as well," Pullo said. "As Keystone prepares to successfully navigate a path forward with our strategic partner, we needed to better align our expenses with our anticipated revenues while being honest with ourselves with respect to the academic programs in which we can excel."
A tumultuous year
The layoffs add to an already tumultuous year for Keystone, which the federal Department of Education has listed for heightened cash monitoring for more than a decade because of its financial struggles.
In February, publicly available documents showed the school planned to hand control to the Washington Institute for Education and Research, a Washington, D.C.-based institution.
In March, about a week after WVIA revealed the potential match, Keystone announced both sides mutually agreed to drop the idea.
A week after that, Keystone placed vice president for finance and administration Stuart Renda on administrative leave and said it was cooperating with an “independent investigation.” The case wound up referred to the state attorney general’s office, which has declined to comment.
In April, the school confirmed the Middle States Commission on Higher Education asked for a teach-out plan, meant to ensure students can complete their educations elsewhere if the school closed.
The commission accredits colleges, universities and other educational institutions. Accreditation makes a school’s students eligible for federal financial aid.
At the time, Keystone spokesman Fran Calpin said the plan’s creation doesn’t mean the school will necessarily close or “alter its academic offerings or operations.” Calpin was among the people laid off recently.
Ongoing struggles
Over the years, Keystone has struggled to submit annual tax forms and audits on time. The college filed its annual IRS financial statement for the year ending May 31, 2021, on March 4 and for the year ending May 31, 2023, on April 16.
The latest statement shows Keystone ran a $5.3 million deficit during the 2022-2023 school year.
The college still hasn’t filed a statement for the year ending May 31, 2022, and it is unclear why.
In September, the Department of Education cited Keystone for violating department performance standards by filing financial statements and audits late for the fiscal years ending in 2021 and 2022.
The department required Keystone to post a letter of credit equal to almost $3.2 million to cover its obligations in case of revenue shortfalls.
Another 'strategic partner' emerges
On April 26, in a letter to students and faculty, Pullo said Keystone College officials were negotiating with another potential “investment partner” to ensure the school’s future.
Just before Memorial Day, Keystone announced the college and a “strategic partner” signed a letter of intent on a deal that will ensure the school stays open.
The commission and the federal and state education departments must approve the deal.
Keystone has said it is going ahead as if school will open on time this fall.
Based in LaPlume Township, Keystone’s 276-acre campus straddles the Lackawanna and Wyoming counties border.
