Exhibit 99.1

ESSA BANCORP, INC.

ANNOUNCES AUTHORIZATION FOR FOURTH

STOCK REPURCHASE PROGRAM

Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, May 27, 2011 — ESSA Bancorp, Inc. (the “Company”) (NASDAQ Global Market^SM “ESSA”), the holding company for ESSA Bank & Trust (the “Bank”), announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized a fourth stock repurchase program to purchase up to an additional 5% of its outstanding shares. The Company will repurchase the shares from time to time for cash in open market transactions or in privately negotiated transactions in accordance with applicable federal securities laws.

In June, 2009, the Company announced that it had completed its first stock repurchase program, having purchased 2,547,135 shares at a weighted average cost of $13.14. On October 6, 2010, the Company announced that it had completed its second stock repurchase program having purchased 1,499,100 shares at a weighted average cost of $12.36. In April 2011, the Company announced that it had completed the third repurchase program having purchased 679,900 shares at a weighted average cost of $12.82.

ESSA Bank & Trust, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ESSA Bancorp, Inc., has total assets of over $1 billion and is the leading service-oriented financial institution headquartered in the greater Pocono, Pennsylvania region. Corporate headquarters are located in downtown Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and the Bank has 17

community offices throughout the Greater Pocono and Lehigh Valley areas in Pennsylvania. In addition to being one of the region’s largest mortgage lenders, ESSA Bank & Trust offers a full range of retail, investment, trust, and commercial financial services. ESSA Bancorp, Inc. stock trades on The NASDAQ Global Market^SM under the symbol “ESSA.”

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by reference to a future period or periods, or by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as “may,” “will,” “believe,” “expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “continue,” or similar terms or variations on those terms, or the negative of those terms. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those related to the economic environment, particularly in the market areas in which the Company operates, competitive products and pricing, fiscal and monetary policies of the U.S. Government, changes in government regulations affecting financial institutions, including regulatory fees and capital requirements, changes in prevailing interest rates, acquisitions and the integration of acquired businesses, credit risk management, asset-liability management, the financial and securities markets and the availability of and costs associated with sources of liquidity.

The Company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company wishes to advise readers that the factors listed above could affect the Company’s financial performance and could cause the Company’s actual results for future periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods in any current statements. The Company does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions, which may be made to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

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