Commonwealth Campus enrollment may increase while University Park enrollment may decrease next year in what appears to be the start of the University's promised enrollment cap here.

Admissions offers for Commonwealth Campuses have increased by 10 percent while admissions offers at University Park have decreased by 5 percent, said John Brighton, executive vice president and provost, at the March 21 Board of Trustees meeting in Hershey.

Thomas Riley, admissions officer at the McKeesport Campus, said paid accepts are also noticeably up.

He attributed the increase to the economy, saying that students are staying closer to home because of financial constraints. Students are also accepting offers from many different schools and waiting to find out about their financial aid packages, he said.

If the number of students attending Commonwealth Campuses increases, the campuses will benefit in several ways, Riley said.

"It's a plus," he said. If more students attend, the campuses can offer more programs, more classes and more funding, he said.

Joseph McCallus, admissions officer at the Hazleton Campus, agreed with Riley, saying he has also noticed that paid accepts are slightly higher at his campus.

"If a student doesn't get in University Park and does at a campus, in some way it has to help the campus," he said.

Also announced at the trustees meeting was the expansion of the George T. Harell Library for the medical health sciences at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Computer workspace will also increase there.

C. McCollister Evarts, dean of the College of Medicine, said the new library will be in the new Biomedical Research Building at the medical center. The addition will cost $2.5 million and will be funded by the medical center, not the state.

The library will accommodate independent study areas for medical, graduate and nursing students. In addition, stack space for books will increase and small seminar rooms will be added, as well as additional lounge space, Evarts said.

A new entrance will also be added, he said.

Evarts said he expects the new facility to open sometime in the late summer.