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NEWS VOICES: Some answers, but questions remain after PSU OKs Wilkes-Barre campus closure

WVIA | By Roger DuPuis | WVIA News,

Published May 30, 2025 at 11:00 AM EDT

Penn State Wilkes-Barre uses the Hayfield House for many purposes. Coal baron John Conyngham and his wife, Bertha, built the home during the Great Depression. PSU trustees this month voted 25-8 to follow recommendations to close seven Commonwealth Campuses, including Wilkes-Barre.

NEWS VOICES

Welcome to News Voices, a weekly feature where members of the WVIA News team will talk with each other — and sometimes sources — about key things we've learned in recent stories we have been working on.

Today Roger DuPuis sits down with Sarah Hofius Hall to discuss Penn State's decision to close its Wilkes-Barre campus, including what that could mean for students currently enrolled there. This is a transcript of their conversation as it aired on WVIA Radio.

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ROGER: You're listening to Morning Edition here on WVIA Radio. I'm Roger DuPuis, and this is News Voices. Today, I have with me WVIA News reporter Sarah Hofius Hall. Hello, Sarah.

SARAH: Hi, Roger.

ROGER: Hi. Thanks for being here. We're going to talk about Penn State Wilkes-Barre and the recent decision to close it as the university looks at the future of its Commonwealth Campuses. Is this a done deal?

SARAH: Yes, it's a done deal. The Board of Trustees voted 25 to eight last week to close seven campuses. So DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, York, and Wilkes-Barre. So those campuses will close after the spring 2027 semester, so two years from now.

ROGER: OK, if you are studying at Penn State Wilkes-Barre currently, and you would not be done in 2027, what happens next?

SARAH: So anybody who's going into their junior year this fall will be able to finish at their campus. So they'll be able to finish in Wilkes-Barre. It's students who were a freshman this last year, or who would be going into their sophomore year in the fall, will have to think about transferring elsewhere to complete a Penn State degree. All students from closed campuses will be given a navigation coach who will be able to answer questions and help direct that student where to go after the campus closes.

ROGER: OK, and the programs that they are participating in, the programs they're studying in, what will become of those programs? Will they be transferred to another campus?

SARAH: Penn State is now undertaking a look across the state — what happens to these campuses, what happens to the programs?

ROGER: The future of the campus, I know, is of great interest to folks in the community because of the historic nature of Hayfield House, where it was built. What do we know about what could happen to the property and some of the community events that currently happen there?

SARAH: At least for the time being, events will go on as scheduled. But what happens in the future remains to be seen.

ROGER: OK, so there really is a lot up in the air right now.

SARAH: Yes.

ROGER: OK, I think at the press conference that you attended last week, one thing that everyone who spoke made very clear is that the organization is still committed to Northeastern Pa., they just can't maintain the Wilkes-Barre campus.

SARAH: The Wilkes-Barre campus had 329 students as of this past fall, that's a 46% drop in enrollment over the last decade. According to a report from the university, the campus lost $2 million in the 2024 fiscal year. Penn State says it cannot continue to maintain campuses like Wilkes-Barre.

ROGER: And what was it that prompted Penn State to begin looking at the possibility of closing some of the Commonwealth Campuses?

The Penn State lion shrine sits on Wilkes-Barre's campus.

SARAH: So, across the 12 campuses they've reviewed this year, enrollment had declined by 51% since 2010, 35% over the past decade, and that's just not sustainable moving forward. The seven campuses that will be closing in two years? Penn State says that they will require an estimated $19 million in annual financial support and $21 million in annual overhead expense to remain open.

ROGER: Do you think we could be looking at additional closures down the road?

SARAH: They haven't discussed that yet. I think they want to invest quite a bit in the campuses they have left and see where it goes from there.

ROGER: One of the things, Sarah, I wanted to ask you about is transparency, because I know you spoke with a Crestwood School District graduate, Bailey Hayes, who is a student at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, and she did not feel that the folks at the top of the organization were listening to the community concerns at the Commonwealth Campuses.

SARAH: Yeah, she said that she felt like nobody was really talking to the students, what they wanted, what their concerns were. So when Penn State earlier this year announced that 12 campuses could possibly close, including four in our area — so beyond Wilkes-Barre, the Scranton campus, Hazleton, Schuylkill — I visited each campus, and I met with a lot of students. I met with the faculty. I got to see what was really unique at each campus, and something I heard from students over and over again was that they just wanted to be heard. They loved their campuses, they loved their communities. They worried about where they would go if it wasn't for that local campus, and students feel like their concerns were not heard.

ROGER: So, Sarah, what was the emotional environment like at the meeting you attended last week? What was the feeling in the air?

SARAH: The campus chancellor and the regional chancellor had just gotten done with meetings with students, with faculty, with staff, and you could just tell it was a very emotional morning for them that day.

ROGER: Okay, thank you, Sarah.

SARAH: Thank you.

Penn State University President Neeli Bendapudi announced earlier this year that the school could no longer afford to keep all 19 Commonwealth campuses open. She said the seven largest — Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Harrisburg and Lehigh Valley — would remain open, and that the future of the 12 smallest campuses would be decided by a university committee. Trustees this month voted 25-8 to follow recommendations to close seven Commonwealth Campuses: DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York.

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