YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown State University’s Steubenville campus inches closer to reality, six programs are being deactivated and fall enrollment is up about 2% compared with last year.

The YSU trustees’ Finance and Facilities Committee on Tuesday approved a resolution – expected to be considered by the full trustees board Wednesday – to continue the process of pursuing a campus at the former Eastern Gateway Community College in Steubenville.

Jefferson “County and the state are still working through their legal wranglings to put the facility back in the hands of the county, and then we have to go through the process for the county to turn it over to us,” YSU President Bill Johnson said. “And, of course, we’re working with the state on how this is all going to be funded.”

Eastern Gateway closed in 2024, and YSU officials at that time expressed interest in opening a campus there. Lawsuits involving the former community college stalled those efforts.

One of the buildings used by the college was deeded to it by Jefferson County, with a retainer clause that if the building ceased being used for educational purposes, it would revert to the county. Jefferson commissioners earlier this year asked a judge to activate that clause.

Those commissioners last month approved an agreement under which YSU would take ownership of the classroom building. The county would retain a second parcel for mineral rights. The reverter clause would remain under the agreement.

Johnson said he’s optimistic about a Steubenville campus, adding that the governor asked YSU to open a campus there.

“I think eventually the issues will be worked out and we’ll be operating down there,” Johnson said. 

At the time YSU began talking about moving into the building, faculty, staff and students were still on the campus, he pointed out. 

“Today there’s an empty building, so we are essentially starting over,” Johnson said. “So there is going to be a ramping up period of time. What that period of time is, is anybody’s guess.”

During the trustees’ Academic Excellence and Student Success Committee on Tuesday, Jennifer Pintar, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said six programs will be discontinued with trustees approval because of low enrollment and because they meet criteria for deactivation under state law. However, no faculty will lose their jobs because those programs are ending.

The programs, which stopped accepting new students this fall, are bachelor of arts in biological sciences, chemistry, physics, geology and theatre studies/film studies and a bachelor of science in geology. Students enrolled before this semester will be able to finish their degrees.

“At this point, there will be no impact on the professors that are in the programs,” Pintar said.

The university needs faculty in those subject areas, she added.

YSU will continue to offer bachelor of science degrees in biological sciences, physics and chemistry, as well as a bachelor of fine arts in theater.

Documents presented to trustees as part of committee meeting materials show a 2.1% increase in student headcount and a 1.9% increase in full-time equivalent enrollment this semester compared with fall 2024. It also shows that first-time undergraduate enrollment increased by 2.5%, first-time graduate enrollment increased 6.9%, doctoral level enrollment increased 28% and continuing students increased 1.3%.

Mike Sherman, YSU vice president of institutional effectiveness and board professional, said the university aimed to target enrollment of new international students at between 250 and 350, and 351 new international students enrolled this fall.

Nepal and India remain countries from which most students come, and YSU is working to diversify the countries from which international students enroll at YSU. Sherman mentioned Thailand, Malaysia and parts of South America.


“It will be based on what we know about international demand for higher education in the U.S.,” he said. “We’ve got data that can help us understand where to go, because there’s interest in [students from] those countries coming here,” the vice president said. 

Sherman said the university works with agencies that help recruit students from around the world, and people on campus also communicate with prospective international students online.

“We’ve just been increasing our ability to support them and serve them,” he said.

Pictured at top: YSU Trustees Chairman Charles George and Global Trustee Eric Spiegel, center, talk before Tuesday’s meetings.