ARRISBURG, Pa. — Penn State’s costs related to the Jerry Sandusky scandal are approaching a quarter-billion dollars and growing, five years after the former assistant football coach’s arrest on child molestation charges.
The scandal’s overall cost to the school has reached at least $237 million, including a recent $12 million verdict in the whistleblower and defamation case brought by former assistant coach Mike McQueary, whose testimony helped convict Sandusky in 2012.
The university has settled with 33 people over allegations they were sexually abused by Sandusky, and has made total payments to them of $93 million.
The total also covers the $48 million “fine” levied by the NCAA that is funding anti-child-abuse efforts in Pennsylvania, $27 million in lawyer fees to defend lawsuits, nearly $14 million that includes the legal defense of three former administrators facing criminal charges for their handling of Sandusky complaints and $5.3 million for crisis communications and other consultants.
The school’s latest financial statement said insurers have covered $30 million in costs, while other insurance claims remain pending. Penn State says donations, student tuition, and taxpayer funds aren’t being used to pay uninsured costs, including legal expenses. Instead, the school is relying on interest revenue from university loans.
The school also was hit in November with a $2.4 million fine from a federal investigation, started immediately after Sandusky was arrested, that concluded the university repeatedly violated campus crime reporting requirements.