YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – All Name, Image and Likeness compensation at Youngstown State University will switch to an internal compensation model July 1.
That’s after a judge signed off earlier this month on a court settlement of a class action lawsuit regarding NIL.
“So starting July 1, all the NCAA member schools who opted into the settlement – we have officially done so – will be able to do internal name, image and likeness compensation to their own student-athletes …,” Ross P. Miltner, YSU associate general counsel, said Monday at a university trustees intercollegiate athletics committee meeting.
Before the settlement, that was prohibited, “which is why we’ve gone through the third party Penguin Collective over the last couple of years, since NIL came on the scene, to facilitate a lot of those agreements. And we thank them for the work that they put in,” he said.
Miltner said that opens up opportunities that haven’t been available to schools previously.
“Now we’ve developed a standardized contract of what those agreements look like,” he said. “We’ve already signed numerous individuals who are incoming men’s basketball and women’s basketball players and some of our football players, both to retain students we didn’t want to lose, as well as to recruit and attract new students to come.”
The agreements also build in protections for the university, including for-cause agreement termination. The NCAA also allows YSU to tie NIL agreements to academic progress for degree completion, the associate general counsel said.
He said the payments to student-athletes will be funded through external sources, not the general fund or athletics budget.
“And in fact, under Ohio law, no Ohio universities will be able to take the State Share of Instruction dollars that come in – that are tax dollars, essentially – and use any of those dollars for internal NIL deals,” Miltner said. “So if there’s ever any concern about taxpayer-funded money paying for these, that’s not happening at YSU. … And it shouldn’t be happening anywhere else in the state either.”
The Penguin Collective will be winding down operations, he said.
Miltner called the NIL program successful.
“I think we’ve seen a huge impact in the success, frankly, of several of our programs, in particular the basketball side,” he said. “And we want to continue that positive momentum but also want to make sure that we’re being fiscally responsible.”
Operating Budget
Also Wednesday, trustees’ finance and facilities committee approved the fiscal year 2026 operating budget. The spending plan is expected to be approved by the full trustees board Tuesday.
The total proposed operating budget is $194,147,360, up about 3% from the fiscal year 2025 adjusted budget of $188,431,374.
The budget is based on some revenue assumptions, including a $3.9 million increase in tuition revenue. That increase is based on a 3% decrease in fall 2025 full-time equivalent student enrollment compared with fall 2025; a 3% increase in graduate program tuition, no change in undergraduate tuition rates for continuing students in the Penguin Promise cohorts, a $2 million increase in revenue from online programs and new fees for specialized programs including aviation, CDL and radiologic tech.
A 2.5% increase in State Share of Instruction funding based on Ohio Department of Higher Education projections and a 5.6% increase in other revenue sources round out the revenue assumptions.
Neal McNally, vice president of finance and business operations, told committee members that SSI is increasing, but it hasn’t kept pace with inflation over the past 25 years.
“For me, this graph is sort of a sobering reminder that before we get too excited about the apparent upswing in SSI funding – and our SSI funding has definitely gone up in the last few years – but if you look back a little bit farther, our SSI funding levels are still hovering pretty much at the same levels they were a quarter of a century ago,” he said.
Kilcawley Center
Bill Spencer, director of planning and construction, told committee members that the $57 million Kilcawley Center project is progressing.
“Our general contractor has been engaged and began demolition about six weeks ago,” he said. “I’m glad to say demolition is moving along very well. They’re making quick work of it, so that part is progressing fine.”
Mike Coates Construction of Niles is the contractor.
Temporary dining has been set up for the summer with a food truck outside the building and a Dunkin’ Donuts stand inside. The project is being completed in phases.
Information about construction zones, temporary office relocations and available event location space has been posted online.
The planned Kilcawley Center renovation includes updated lounges, expanded dining options, a new black-box theater for performances and enhanced connectivity with the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center. The project also aims to integrate indoor and outdoor spaces to create a more accessible and inclusive environment for students.
The new center is expected to open in fall 2027.
Statement of Commitment
In other business, trustees’ governance committee moved to the full trustees’ board a resolution to approve the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act Statement of Commitment.
The law, also known as Ohio Senate Bill 1, prohibits job training or orientation regarding diversity, equity and inclusion as well as prohibiting establishment of new institutional scholarships that use DEI requirements. It also requires institutions to ensure intellectual diversity, prohibits faculty strikes and impacts faculty tenure protections among its provisions.
It becomes law Friday and requires state colleges and universities to create a statement of commitment.
Opponents argue the law restricts free speech.
The YSU faculty union has been collecting signatures to get a referendum of the law on the November ballot.
Pictured at top: Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center on the campus of YSU.