Eastern Gateway Community College has taken steps to address academic and financial issues raised by higher education oversight agencies.

Dr. Mike Sherman, who has decades of higher education leadership experience, and was highly recommended by former Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel, has agreed to serve Eastern Gateway as an “Executive on Loan.”

Sherman will report to the Eastern Gateway Board of Trustees with a direct line to the Ohio Department of Higher Education. He will oversee an immediate assessment of the college’s internal operations and the development of an action plan to promptly address the most critical priorities needed to stabilize the institution.

Dr. Lauren Mounty, who began working with Eastern Gateway on Dec. 11, will continue to serve as the lead person responsible for review and evaluation of the college’s financial aid department, specifically with the goal of updating internal processes and procedures to facilitate timely and consistent Pell Grant reimbursements from the U.S. Department of Education.

Dr. John Crooks will continue to lead Eastern Gateway as interim president while focusing on items identified by the Higher Learning Commission to maintain the college’s accreditation status. To date, Eastern Gateway has satisfactorily addressed six of the seven items identified by the HLC. As Eastern Gateway’s provost before being named interim president, Crooks’ prior academic experience will be instrumental in the college’s ability to address HLC’s remaining concerns.

“I am grateful for the expertise provided by all three of these individuals, and the board is committed to supporting them so that Eastern Gateway can continue providing a quality academic experience for the students we serve,” said Jim Gasior, chair of the Board of Trustees forEGCC. “We believe there is a bright future ahead for Eastern Gateway, and the work we do now will help ensure the lasting legacy of our college.”

PROBATIONARY STATUS

In November 2021, EGCC was placed on probation for up to two years by the Higher Learning Commission, a private Chicago-based organization that accredits about 1,000 colleges and universities across the U.S.

The commission changed EGCC’s status from “Accredited” to “Accredited – On Probation” because the Steubenville-based school did not meet the commission’s criteria for accreditation related to teaching and learning for quality, resources, support, evaluation and improvement.

While on probation, EGCC, which has a downtown Youngstown campus, remained accredited and was given the chance to correct the issues that led to the sanction. The commission concluded EGCC did not meet the following criteria for accreditation:

• Has the faculty and staff needed for effective, high-quality programs and student services.

• Provides support for student learning and resources for effective teaching.

• Ensures the quality of its educational offerings.

• Engages in ongoing assessment of student learning as part of its commitment to the educational outcomes of its students.

• Pursues educational improvement through goals and strategies that improve retention, persistence and completion rates in its degree and certificate programs.

The commission’s letter also noted areas of concern regarding accreditation in that:

• It provides opportunities for civic engagement in a diverse, multicultural society and globally connected world, as appropriate within its mission and for the constituencies it serves.

• It establishes and follows policies and processes to ensure fair and ethical behavior on the part of its governing board, administration, faculty and staff.

• It presents itself clearly and completely to its students and to the public.

• Through administrative structures and collaborative processes, the EGCC’s leadership demonstrates that it is effective and enables the institution to fulfill its mission.

• Its resource base supports its educational offerings and its plans for maintaining and strengthening their quality in the future; and

• It engages in systematic and integrated planning and improvement.

EGCC was required to show it had addressed the issues no later than Feb. 1 in preparation for the commission’s on-site visit no later than April 2023. The commission’s board determined in November that EGCC had come into compliance, however the probation status was continued.

LEGAL BATTLE BACKGROUND

EGCC and the U.S. Department of Education in August reached a tentative settlement in their battle over the college’s Free College Benefits program.

EGCC filed a civil suit in September 2022 against Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and the Department of Education “pursuant to a preliminary and tentative settlement agreement.”

The college had requested, and been granted, a preliminary injunction barring DOE from enforcing orders that would have forced EGCC to stop offering the program and submit a teach-out agreement.

The free college program, which has been offered through a public-private partnership in Ohio and across the country, helped transform EGCC into a nationally recognized online institution, but the education department contended its meteoric growth had been wrongly funded with the needs-based Pell Grants federal aid program, meant to help low-income students get college degrees.

Department officials had alleged the college violated financial aid rules by subsidizing the FCB program with Pell Grant money they’d awarded to income-eligible students, and in July 2022 the education department ordered the college to stop offering the FCB program and submit the teach-out agreement.

EGCC filed suit in U.S. District Court in Columbus two months later, seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions preventing the education department from enforcing its edict. The college claimed Cardona and the DOE had violated its right to due process by issuing the orders without affording them a chance to respond.

In October 2022, a federal judge granted EGCC’s request for the preliminary injunction enjoining DOE from limiting the school’s access to federal student financial aid. Since then, the case had been mired in legal briefs, but in a May 23 motion for summary judgment, EGCC suggested the education department had slowed student aid reimbursements to a trickle. In that motion, EGCC told a federal judge DOE had processed “only $8.5 million of the more than $25 million in federal student aid it is owed,” threatening the college’s fiscal stability.

Eastern Gateway is a state, public, accredited institution of higher learning established in 1968 dedicated to providing a high-quality, affordable college degree to students from Columbiana, Jefferson, Mahoning and Trumbull counties and across Ohio. With two main campuses in Steubenville and Youngstown, Eastern Gateway has served Northeast Ohio for more than 60 years.

*This article has been edited to correct inaccurate information.