Eastern Gateway Community College, located in Steubenville and Youngstown, will officially dissolve as of Oct. 31, 2024, its board of trustees voted Wednesday.
The board also voted to offer a limited number of classes over the summer to help students finish out their degrees, but after that session, the college will cease offering classes and will wind down its operations.
Eastern Gateway has been subject to what the U.S. Department of Education calls "heightened cash monitoring." The government slowed the flow of federal funding, after it ordered the college last year to halt a free tuition program that it deemed in violation of federal law. After that change, the college's enrollment dropped steeply, from 15,000 to 9,000 between the fall 2023 and spring 2024 semesters. Financial troubles followed.
The Ohio auditor and other law enforcement agencies also executed a search warrant at the college in January over financial irregularities.
After the college announced earlier this year that it would be halting all enrollment, area colleges – especially Youngstown State University – have stepped in to enroll the remaining students.
YSU in a press release issued Wednesday said the university has added over 50 new associate degree programs in ensure a “seamless transition” for Eastern Gateway Community College students.
“YSU’s Academic Senate also approved addendums to existing policies that for two semesters, removed barriers, including adjusting GPA admissions requirements, eliminating the residency requirement and creating a GPA recalculation option for students who had previously attended YSU,” the release reads. “These additions and the hard work of the Academic Senate have paved the way for a smoother transition process for EGCC students transferring to YSU.”
Youngstown State University officials were present during Eastern Gateway’s board of trustees meeting Wednesday to give an update on how the transition is going so far, and they reiterated that YSU’s intention is to open a campus in Steubenville, although they declined to say where.
So far, about 1,300 Eastern Gateway Community College students have applied to YSU and about 650 have been admitted.
