The College Fix reports the trustees gave President Neeli Bendapudi a nearly 50% raise, bringing her annual compensation to above $1 million. The university’s Board of Trustees also has guaranteed her an annual 3.5% raise for the next seven years and increased her annual retention bonus by $225,000.
This happened in the wake of the board voting to close 7 campuses after the 2026-2027 school year due to supposed financial problems. The board cited the same excuse for closing down their public broadcasting service in 2026.
Meanwhile, the university was allotted over $240 million in state tax money for this school year, and the board has also voted to increase tuition for the 2026-2027 school year.
Many students are critical of this decision despite their political party affiliation. The president of the university’s College Republicans, Triston Kilgor, spoke about how its disappointing rural students will no longer have access to these campuses. Madeline Shanafelt, the president of the university’s College Democrats, noted how the tuition is going up while Bendapudi's salary increases.
Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, says that the student complaints are justified.
"When they are closing seven campuses at the end of next school year and then giving their president an almost 50% raise, it's absolutely disheartening to students whose tuition keeps going up, and then they see their president getting that big of a raise," says Gramley.
Gramley believes the trustees need to show more transparency in these situations than they have so far.
"When the school is complaining about ‘we don't have enough money to keep these seven campuses open’ or ‘we don't have enough money to give professors and staff members a raise’ but then turn around and do this, they're not being quite truthful as far as their economic situation," says Gramley.
