ESSA Bancorp, Inc. Added to Russell 3000 Index

  
    
  
  
    
      ESSA Bancorp, Inc. [NASDAQ Global MarketSM: 
      ESSA] today announced it has been added to 
      the Russell 3000® 
      Index after the Russell Investment Group reconstituted its comprehensive 
      set of U.S. and global equity indexes on June 27, 2008.
    
    
      Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional 
      investors for both index funds and as benchmarks for passive and active 
      investment strategies. The Company will hold its membership until 
      Russell reconstitutes its indexes in June 2009.
    
    
      “We are pleased with our inclusion in this 
      index, which reflects our continued positive momentum,” 
      said ESSA Bancorp President & CEO Gary S. Olson. “Russell 
      is an industry leader for stock indexes, and we expect our inclusion 
      will generate greater interest in our stock among institutional 
      investors.”
    
    
      The annual reconstitution of the Russell 3000 captures the 3,000 largest 
      U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market 
      capitalization. The largest 1,000 companies in this ranking comprise the 
      Russell 1000 and the next 2,000 companies become the Russell 2000.
    
    
      ABOUT RUSSELL INVESTMENT GROUP
    
    
      Russell Investment Group aims to improve financial security for people 
      by providing strategic advice, world-class implementation, 
      state-of-the-art performance benchmarks, and a range of 
      institutional-quality investment products. With more than $200 billion 
      in assets under management, Russell serves individual, institutional and 
      advisor clients in more than 40 countries. Russell provides access to 
      some of the world's best money managers. It helps investors put this 
      access to work in corporate defined benefit and defined contribution 
      plans, and in the life savings of individual investors. Russell’s 
      indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested in directly. For more 
      information on Russell indexes, go to www.russell.com.
    
    
      ESSA Bank & Trust, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ESSA Bancorp, Inc., has 
      total assets of over $915 million and is the leading service-oriented 
      financial institution in the greater Pocono, Pennsylvania region. The 
      Bank maintains its corporate headquarters in downtown Stroudsburg, 
      Pennsylvania and 13 community offices throughout the Pocono, 
      Pennsylvania area. In addition to being one of the region’s 
      largest mortgage lenders, ESSA offers a full range of retail and 
      commercial financial services. ESSA Bancorp stock trades on The NASDAQ 
      Global MarketSM 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.