Under 22 Pa. Code Chapter 34, institutions seeking to discontinue a branch campus must submit a formal application to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) by July 1 of the calendar year preceding the academic year in which the closure would take effect. This means that for a campus to close at the end of the spring 2027 semester, Penn State would be required to submit its application to PDE by July 1, 2026 and the Pennsylvania Department of Education would have to approve the closers.
 
This year, the Penn State Board authorized in a hastened manner the closing of 7-branch campuses.  Many of them built on the back of the Land-Grant ideals established by our Commonwealth, with facilities funded through Commonwealth funds.
 
The university has indicated that they plan to close the 7 campuses in just 2 short years, 2027.
 
Due to this constrained timeframe, I hope you will join me in calling upon the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee with consultation of the Department of Education, The Deparment of Economic Development, The Department of Labor and Industry and any additional state agencies as determined to be necessary to conduct a study to analyze the impact these closers will have on our students, our businesses & economy.
 
We must learn of the impact this will cause to our Commonwealth.  I hope you will join in support of this resolution to push for this study.