YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – There’s a settlement in the federal lawsuit filed against the former Eastern Gateway Community College by the company that operated its free college program.

At an Eastern Gateway Community College Governance Authority meeting Wednesday, governance authority chairwoman Kimberly Murnieks said the body previously approved the execution of a settlement agreement, and the processes are underway to execute that settlement agreement.

Murnieks, who is also the director of the Ohio Office of Budget and Management, didn’t disclose details.

Also at the meeting, the governance authority approved the sale of its two buildings in Youngstown and one in Steubenville. The amount is to be “determined by real estate appraisals” sought by Executive Director Fred Ransier, the resolution reads.

The downtown Youngstown buildings are the former Harshman Building at 101 E. Boardman St., which housed classrooms and offices, and the parking garage at 101 E. Federal St., which houses first-floor office space and is home to Mocha House Youngstown. The latter building is also known as Thomas Humphries Hall. The Pugliese Building in Steubenville will also be sold.

At a meeting Wednesday morning, the Western Reserve Port Authority authorized its executive director, Anthony Trevena, to negotiate the acquisition of the downtown buildings and to execute a purchase agreement for the properties.

According to appraisals obtained by the WRPA, the Harshman building is valued at $800,000. The parking garage, according to those appraisals, however, has a negative value. Trevena told authority members Wednesday that the parking garage needs about $18 million in repairs.

Randy Partika, WRPA project manager and development engineer, told The Business Journal the $18 million amount would cover only half of the needed repairs. Another $18 million would be required five to 10 years later, he said.

If the WRPA is successful in buying both buildings, it plans to seek funds to raze the parking garage. The Mocha House would have an option to relocate to the Harshman building, WRPA officials said at the meeting.

The college governance authority, which was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine last year to oversee the college’s closure, also approved an extension of Ransier’s contract, which was to expire at month’s end. The extension means his contract will expire before Aug. 31.

Eastern Gateway classes closed last summer following years of financial and accreditation problems mostly connected to its free college benefit program. Eastern Gateway contracted with Student Resource Center to operate the program.

That program allowed union members from across the country to attend Eastern Gateway classes, mostly virtually, and to earn degrees at no cost to them.

Under the program, enrollment swelled from about 4,000 to more than 40,000.

In August 2022, the U.S. Department of Education placed Eastern Gateway on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2, meaning the college had to use its own resources to credit student accounts and wait for federal student aid reimbursements from the federal department.

Also in 2022, U.S. DOE ordered the college to end the free college program, saying Eastern Gateway was charging students who received Pell grants more than those who didn’t. The college sued the department. The two sides settled the case in August 2023. The free college program ended and enrollment plummeted.

The Higher Learning Commission, an accrediting body, had placed Eastern Gateway on probation in 2021 and extended it two years later. The former college trustees – that board dissolved when the governor appointed a college conservator last year – voted in March 2024 to voluntarily resign from Higher Learning Commission accreditation and to dissolve.

Pictured at top: The parking garage at 101 E. Federal St.