HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Penn State said Monday it is paying $59.7 million to 26 young men over claims of child sexual abuse at the hands of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The school said 23 deals are fully signed and three are agreements in principle, but it did not disclose the names of the recipients.

The school faces six other claims, some of which it says may still produce future settlements.

University president Rodney Erickson issued a statement calling the announcement a step forward for victims and the school.

"We cannot undo what has been done, but we can and must do everything possible to learn from this and ensure it never happens again at Penn State," said Erickson, who announced the day Sandusky was convicted in June 2012 that Penn State was determined to compensate his victims.

The settlements have been unfolding since mid-August, when attorneys for the accusers began to disclose them. Penn State has not been confirming them, waiting instead to announce deals at once.

Harrisburg lawyer Ben Andreozzi, who helped negotiate several of the settlements, said his clients were satisfied.

"They felt that the university treated them fairly with the economic and noneconomic terms of the settlement," said Andreozzi, who also represents some others who have come forward recently. Those new claims have not been presented to the university, he said.

One client represented by St. Paul, Minn., attorney Jeff Anderson signed off on an agreement in the past week and the other is basically done, he said. Anderson counts his two clients as among the three that have been classified as agreements in principle, which Penn State said means final documentation is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

Anderson said his clients were focused on Penn State's changes to prevent future abuse.

"I have to applaud them, because they said 'not until we're satisfied that no one else will get hurt,' " Anderson said. "The settlement of their cases in no way heals, in no way lessens the wound that remains open and the scars that are deep."