At Penn State, 21% of eligible employees at its Commonwealth campuses took a buyout
The university also plans to consolidate leadership at the campuses, reducing the number of chancellors.
More than 380 employees at Pennsylvania State University’s Commonwealth campuses — about 21% of those eligible — agreed to take a buyout offered by the school earlier this spring, the university announced Tuesday.
That represents about 10% of the overall full-time faculty, staff and administrators at the 20 campuses. Collectively, the salaries and benefits of the employees leaving carries a dollar value of about $43 million, although the university said it’s not yet sure how much of that will be actual savings until it figures out which positions need to be refilled.
The university also announced it was consolidating the leadership of some of the campuses, effective July 1, and reducing the number of chancellors.
“With several chancellors retiring, leaving the university for other positions or having opted in to the [buyout], Penn State has the opportunity to streamline its Commonwealth Campus leadership structure to reduce administrative overhead, leverage regional opportunities and provide enhanced collaboration across locations,” the school said in its announcement.
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The only local Penn State campus affected by the leadership restructuring is Penn State Brandywine, which now will be led by the same chancellor, Marilyn Wells, as Penn State Mont Alto and Penn State York. Wells has led the Brandywine campus since 2020.
“It’s important to note that our campuses will maintain their individual identities,” said Margo DelliCarpini, vice president for Commonwealth Campuses and executive chancellor.
When the buyouts were announced last month, Dellicarpini said the university did not have a target number in mind, and declined to say whether the university would also consider layoffs if enough employees did not take the buyout.
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Asked again about layoffs on Tuesday, a university spokesperson said: “As we develop new organizational structures, we will evaluate employee levels needed to provide appropriate and consistent services across locations. Layoffs are always a last resort and any necessary reductions in personnel will first be addressed, to the greatest extent possible, through attrition.”
The university also has committed a one-time $20 million payment to the campuses to help offset the deficit as the schools work to close the gap.
The moves follow a steep and steady decline in enrollment at the Commonwealth campuses and a $49 million deficit this year, the university said. Enrollment is down 30% since 2010, to about 24,000. That’s in sharp contrast to Penn State’s main campus at University Park, which has grown to more than 42,000 students.
All but two campuses — Lehigh Valley and Harrisburg — have lost enrollment, ranging from 16% to 50% over the last 10 years, the university said.
The buyout closed May 31 and offered one year of salary in a lump sum and six months of health insurance at the current rate. Those eligible included full-time employees hired before April 1, 2023, who are not represented by a union and who do not fall into certain exempted groups, including nursing faculty, those in their final year or on limited contracts, and employees in human resources.
About 77% of those who took the buyout were staff, the university said. About half of those who took buyouts will be leaving by the end of June, with the rest departing some time later in the year.