Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi meets with Bellisario Students

STATE COLLEGE - Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi met with communications students from a variety of orgs. Centre County Report, The Lion 90.7, CommRadio, Penn State Network TV and The Daily Collegian all had student representatives present at the media conference.

A variety of topics were discussed, including Bendapudi’s salary increase, branch-campus closures, an enrollment increase, WPSU funding and how Penn State is protecting its international students.

Her salary increase that came earlier this year made her the second-highest paid public university president. Amid intense budget cuts, many were critical of her accepting the increase.

“I, personally, am deeply humbled and grateful for this vote of confidence and trust. My commitment is to make sure we are doing everything we can to strengthen.”

Students, faculty, and communities across the commonwealth see branch campus closures as a step away from the Penn State land grant mission of access and affordability.

When asked about how the branch campus closures as consistent with this message, President Bendapudi responded that Penn State is committed to the community and is supplying need-based aid to students.

“We’ve held commonwealth campus tuition at no increase for three years and we’ve committed to do this next year too.” She also said, “Overall Pennsylvania population is shrinking and we have more colleges per student than many other states.”

Later in the conference, she said, “Don’t forget we are also a sun-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant university, so we have all of these commitments for what we do, we are very committed to the commonwealth and are working closely with the communities.”

There has been an increase in student enrollment and Penn State has embodied the message of big-school, small-school feel.

This fall, University Park enrolled a record number of undergraduates, including its third-largest freshman class. We asked Bendapudi, considering the growth in student enrollment, how the small-school feel will be impacted.

“We continue to be extremely mindful of everything we do; this is the central message we talked about; it comes back to our students, we need to create a space for every one of you to be able to succeed.”

A common theme throughout was that the President has the students' best interests in mind when faced with university-wide changes.

“Everything we are doing is to make sure we are strong for decades.”

Budget pressures and reallocations suggested that WPSU, the local public radio station, may close, but in a recent turn of events, the assets are now being transferred to the Philadelphia-based organization WHYY. Now, WHYY is responsible for raising $8 million to keep the station operating.

She said, “It wasn't self-sustaining; we were putting in money.”

Penn State receives the lowest state funding compared to other Public Universities in Pennsylvania. 92% of expenses come from tuition dollars, so the university was subsidizing WPSU.

President Bendapudi said, “ We think it is very critical, but at a time when the pressures are so great, we wanted a stable partner for this.”

At a time when immigration concerns affect Penn State students, President Bendapudi responded to a question about what the university is doing to protect its students.

“We do a lot of work not just as our individual university but because these are national issues that are going to hurt or impact a lot of students.” She also said, “That voice of higher education speaking out together is more impactful than just one university trying to impact Congress or the executive branch.”

During the conference, President Bendapudi made it clear that she aims to prioritize the students and the Penn State community.

Hannah Neurohr is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email hmn5264@psu.edu.