YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Stark State College officials hope to open a Mahoning Valley campus, but it won’t happen this fall.

“This fall, Stark State College will serve Mahoning Valley students with a wide range of online degree programs, including a new hybrid RN to BSN completion program designed for working nurses,” Rebecca Badar, a Stark State spokeswoman, wrote in an email. 

The college will offer in-person medical assisting classes at the Campbell City Schools Community Literacy Workforce and Cultural Center. The adult high school diploma program, Graduation Alliance, will also continue serving students, she wrote. 

College officials are looking for a location for a Valley campus.

“We’re actively working on securing the right physical location and obtaining program approval from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, with plans to offer in-person classes at a new site in spring or fall 2026,” Badar said in the email.

No final decisions have been made, she added in a separate email.

Earlier this year, Para Jones, Stark State’s president, said the college hoped to open a Valley campus this fall, citing the void left by the closure of Eastern Gateway Community College. She said at that time that the college was looking for a location that would be convenient to people in Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties with plenty of free, surface-level parking.

The college operates locations in Stark and Summit counties.

Jeff Robinson, an Ohio Department of Higher Education spokesman, said via email that Ohio’s community colleges have a designated service area. The Valley is covered in statute by the former Eastern Gateway. 

“For Stark State [or another community college] to establish a location in this service area, a change in statute would be required,” he said in the email.

Badar said in an email that a statute change would be necessary only if Stark State College was being assigned Eastern Gateway’s service district.

“… However, the state has indicated that no single college will be granted that role,” she said. “Our hope is to serve students on a program by program basis to meet the needs of employers in the region.”

Eastern Gateway, which was based in Steubenville, operated a campus in downtown Youngstown. It closed last year amid myriad financial and accreditation challenges mostly stemming from its free college benefit program. That program enabled union members from across the country to attend Eastern Gateway classes and earn degrees at no cost to the union member. Most attended classes online. Enrollment, which had risen from about 4,000 before the program to roughly 40,000, plummeted when it ended.

The U.S. Department of Education alleged the college was charging Pell grant recipients more than those who didn’t receive the grants.

Eastern Gateway’s closure prompted Youngstown State University to try to fill the gap too. The university added about 60 associate degree and certificate programs to serve those who attended or planned to attend Eastern Gateway. YSU also wants to open a campus in Steubenville to serve students there, potentially at the campus vacated by the college.

A lawsuit against Eastern Gateway filed by the company with which it contracted for the free college program prevents YSU from moving forward.

“We continue to monitor the ongoing legal proceedings around the Steubenville campus,” YSU spokeswoman Rebecca Rose wrote in an email. “Until there is definitive resolution on these matters, we are not in a position to make any formal decisions or announcements.”

The case is set for trial in August in federal court in Columbus.