HACC main campus

Harrisburg Area Community College’s board of trustees approved a resolution Tuesday that gives the institution permission to sell or lease seven buildings it owns across central PA.

Facing a $63 million debt obligation and more than $163 million in deferred maintenance, the HACC board approved the sale or lease of Harrisburg’s Midtown 1 building (located at 4th and Reily streets) as well as its Ted Lick and John N. Hall buildings on its main Harrisburg campus. The resolution also included two buildings in York, as well as buildings in Lancaster and Gettysburg.

On his last day as president and CEO of the college, John “Ski” Sygielski, presented the resolution to the board of directors Tuesday, subbing in for absent board treasurer Jonathan Bowser.

“We’re not closing the campuses, none of them, but we’re just looking at our space utilization in Harrisburg,” Sygielski said.

Sygielski said that while HACC could use more state funding, 2026-27 will be its third year in a row without an increase in operating funds. Downsizing its building portfolio will hence help it meet its debt obligations, he said.

Sygielski said HACC plans to move operations at Midtown 1 to HACC’s main campus’s facilities building and is in talks with other organizations about its Lick and Hall buildings.

A small number of students at HACC’s Lancaster Campus will attend HACC’s main campus moving forward, he said, and while HACC’s nursing program at Gettysburg is thriving, only about 4% of its students attend classes on the Gettysburg campus. Thus, HACC has been discussing sharing parts of its building with other organizations.

According to Sygielski’s presentation, overall consolidation of the buildings may take one or two years. 

HACC’s board also approved resolutions for flexible outsourced custodian and HVAC service models Tuesday. These measures were proposed because the college found that around 20% of its rooms were not being used, but were being heated, cooled, cleaned and protected.

The board also passed a resolution to modify the college’s 2026-27 fiscal budget to cut $9 million, up from $4.8 million, from the upcoming year. This revised budget reduces HACC’s prior $5 million deficit for the upcoming school year to $800,000.

In addition to property sales, HACC’s downsizing efforts have included layoffs and the reduction or restructuring of sports and academic programs.

HACC has seen a 47% decline in its enrollment over the last 16 years and 45% of all its credits are currently taken online, Sygielski said Tuesday. On top of this, there is projected to be a 15% national decrease in student enrollment at colleges between 2025 and 2029. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast is projected to see a decrease in the number of high school graduates in the next few years as well.

HACC will have new leadership tomorrow, as Daniel Lufkin begins as school president. Sygielski has been hired to help Lufkin adjust in his role for about a month.