The Board of Trustees of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, adopted a $128-million operating budget for 2026-27 that would run a nearly $10 million deficit. To offset losses, HACC has outlined cost-saving measures to address the projected deficit and remain fiscally responsible in the years to come.
The measures include:
- Eliminating full-time and part-time positions
- Retrenching faculty (the elimination or reduction of faculty positions due to institutional financial consideration, service reductions, enrollment decline and/or program reduction, rather than individual performance)
- Rightsizing our workforce composition and organizational structure
- Sunsetting academic programs (phasing out programs and no longer admitting new students but allowing current students to finish their credentials)
While the College intends to minimize disruption wherever possible, rightsizing decisions will result in the following employee separations and retrenchments:
- 87 filled positions will be eliminated
- 41 vacant positions will be eliminated
- Two faculty positions will be retrenched
In addition to eliminating positions, HACC plans to phase out some academic programs. It will no longer admit new students to those programs, but it will allow current students to finish.
“HACC is saddened about these difficult, yet necessary, decisions. The college will ensure that any such actions are handled with care, respect and appropriate support for impacted employees,” the college said in a statement.
Beginning in the fall, the following programs will be restructured into meta majors (concentrations) and will no longer accept new students as stand-alone degrees:
- Addiction Recovery Services Associate in Applied Science
- Art Associate in Fine Arts
- Early Childhood Care and Education Certificate
- English Associate in Arts
- Exercise Science Associate in Science
- Electronic Engineering Technology Associate in Science
- Human Services Associate in Applied Science
- Mathematics Associate in Science
- Physical Science Associate in Science
- Political Science Associate in Science
- Social Services Associate in Applied Science
- Film and Theatre Associate in Fine Arts
- Geospatial Technology Associate in Science
- Geospatial Technology Diploma
- Wellness and Health Promotion Associate in Applied Science
