YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Funding for the former Eastern Gateway Community College ends June 30, but questions remain.
“After June 30, I just don’t quite know where we’re going to fit,” said Fred Ransier, Eastern Gateway executive director.
The college, based in Steubenville with a campus in downtown Youngstown, stopped enrolling students last summer and shut down. It’s the first Ohio public higher learning institution to close.
Thursday morning, crews were removing the 3D printer from the Eastern Gateway building at East Federal and Champion streets.
In September 2023, the Tradesman Series P3-44 3D printer manufactured at Juggerbot 3D in Youngstown was installed in the EGCC building. The printer stands nearly 9 feet high, 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep.
It was expected to be the core of the college’s Additive Innovation Center. The printer was part of a $3.5 million Ohio Department of Development grant, and Eastern Gateway partnered with America Makes to secure the funds. An America Makes spokeswoman said Thursday that the printer is being moved to the Excellence Training Center at Youngstown State University.
The Eastern Gateway board of trustees was dissolved, and Gov. Mike DeWine appointed a five member governance authority, led by Kimberly Murnieks, Ohio Office of Budget and Management director, to oversee the closure process.
The governance authority appointed Ransier executive director. He said he’s been meeting in recent weeks with people interested in buying equipment, real estate and furniture from the college.
No sales can happen, though, because the college is involved in a lawsuit filed by the company that formerly ran Eastern Gateway’s free college benefit program.
“I’m trying to get us in a position where if things break our way, we can quickly go to people who have expressed interest,” the executive director said at a Wednesday governance authority meeting.
Although the college closed last year, it still has expenses, including unemployment compensation for former employees and anticipated unemployment compensation for those still working.
Treasurer Michael Abouserhal estimated unemployment compensation will cost about $2 million this year. About 30 full and part-time employees remain at Eastern Gateway, down from 1,500 at the peak.
Costs including building operations, maintenance, utilities and security continue as well.
“We’re still looking at a pretty significant deficit as we wind down the college,” Abouserhal said.
Ransier pointed out that the loss of employees brings other issues.
“Every time we lose a person at this point, it costs us,” he said. “It slows us down.”
The staff has to be reorganized so the tasks of the person or people who leave are assigned.
The governance authority also voted at Wednesday’s meeting to extend Ransier’s contract, which was set to expire this month, through June 30.
Eastern Gateway started in Steubenville as Jefferson County Technical Institute in 1966 and was renamed Jefferson Technical College 11 years later.
In 2009, it expanded to serve students in Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties and became Eastern Gateway. It then opened a downtown Youngstown campus.
The college has faced academic and financial challenges over the past few years, mostly related to its free college program. That program allowed union members from across the country to attend Eastern Gateway classes, mostly virtually, and earn degrees at no cost to them.
Under the program, enrollment swelled from about 4,000 to more than 40,000.
But in 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.
That same year, 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 program ended in August 2023, and enrollment tumbled.
Pictured at top: Crews removed the Tradesman Series P3-44 3D printer from the Eastern Gateway building at East Federal and Champion streets Thursday.