Eastern Gateway to Continue Tuition Waiver for Local Students
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Eastern Gateway Community College board of trustees has approved a tuition waiver for local students enrolled in summer and fall semester classes.
Through the Eastern Gateway Guarantee program, students living in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Jefferson counties will have most costs waived. The waiver must be approved by the Ohio Department of Higher Education. EGCC uses open source textbooks, so few books need to be purchased for courses. For those that do have books and for course fees, the college is paying those costs through its Cares Act funding.
To be eligible, students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, for the 2020-21 and 2021-2022 school years. They must also submit an application to enroll at Eastern Gateway HERE. The maximum waiver, calculated by the number of credits a student is taking, is $3,200.
“Community colleges are an economic lifeline to working families during times of economic uncertainty, and our local, state, and national economies continue to face challenges from the COVID-19 global pandemic,” said Eastern Gateway Community College President Michael Geoghegan in a statement. “We will continue to use the grants and financial aid available to create a model for students to get the degrees they need to be competitive in the job market without incurring debt.”
In the most recent report from the state, all four counties in Eastern Gateway’s service district rank in the top 10 for unemployment rates.
“The board believes that increasing the higher educational attainment rate in our community will help ensure that the region’s economy will become stronger and more resilient in the future,” said Jim Gaisor, chairman of Eastern Gateway Community College’s board of trustees. “We have invested significantly in technology and programs to ensure we have the right infrastructure in place, and we will always look for ways to remove financial barriers in higher education for those we serve.”
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
