23-05-2025
City Councilman fears higher education desert with closure of Penn State Dubois
DUBOIS, Pa. (WTAJ) — Dubois city officials and residents are reacting after the Thursday afternoon vote announcing that Penn State will be closing seven of its branch campuses, including Penn State Dubois.
It was a dreary day on campus Thursday due to the rain and the announcement. Dubois City Councilman Elliot Gelfand has been outspoken since the list of campuses that were recommended to close was leaked.
'It happened a lot quicker than I thought it was going to,' Gelfand said.
Gelfand said that everyone he has spoken with in the community and some council members are very upset with the decision.
'People in rural PA are getting tired of not getting the same attention from the state and from institutions that places with larger populations get,' Gelfand said.
'No point in waiting,' PSU trustees vote to close DuBois, 6 other campuses
Gelfand said that he worries that the closure could impact the city's economy significantly, due to fewer people visiting who otherwise wouldn't have.
'We'll also lose a lot of training specific to the industries that are in the area,' Gelfand said. 'Penn State Dubois has created programs to support the powdered metal industry that is a very large employer in this area, to help build up that workforce as we've lost population over time.'
College students aren't the only ones who will feel the effects. With the college being walking distance from the Dubois Area High School, several students take advantage by gaining early college credit through dual enrollment.
'There's math and calculus that some people take over here and there's English that some of my friends take over here as well,' said high school junior Adalyn Whitherite.
Whitherite was on campus Thursday, returning books to the library that she had been using for a research project. She said it's sad to think that others in the future won't have that opportunity.
'Some of my classmates' parents work here as professors and stuff, so we were talking about like what would happen after they decided to close it down and what that would mean for their families, that would definitely make an impact,' Whitherite said.
Since Lock Haven University announced that it will be closing its local campus as well last year, commutable higher education for the area may soon become a thing of the past.
'Losing the campus is going to create kind of a higher education desert, we are an hour from State College, but not everyone can go to State College,' Gelfand said.
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