Rep. McNally announces $6,091,917 to support Eastern Gateway Community College
COLUMBUS – State Rep. Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown) today announced $6,091,917 for Eastern Gateway Community College (EGCC) in advance disbursement of EGCC’s State Share of Instruction (SSI) with prior approval for all expenses from the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE).
“Our public higher ed institutions, particularly within the Mahoning Valley, are regional assets that primarily benefit the people living and working in our area. Doing whatever we can to bring some stability and security to the students whose futures depend on Eastern Gateway is really important,” said Rep. McNally. “I’m hopeful this opportunity for an early release of dollars will allow the school and everyone connected to it more time to make long term plans.”
The Controlling Board release states that House Bill 33 included the ability to make adjustments to SSI for exceptional circumstances. These funds represent the ability for EGCC to advance up to three months of SSI, if necessary, to allow positive cash flow for the remainder of the spring semester. The advanced payments were approved with several conditions including, but not limited to, weekly meetings with ODHE, collaboration with EGCC Board of Trustees and staff with partners including Youngstown State University, and a commitment to the successful completion of spring semester 2024 while the EGCC takes aggressive actions to significantly reduce operating expenses, pause registration/enrollment beyond the spring semester, and pursue opportunities to transfer existing students to other educational institutions, working toward providing uninterrupted higher education access for students in the region.
“Our priority as a state must be the students, and this decision will help us give them options and time,” said Rep. McNally.
In August 2022, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) placed EGCC on "Heightened Cash Monitoring 2" status (HCM2), action taken by the USDOE in response to compliance issues. A school placed on HCM2 no longer receives funds under the Advance Payment Method. After a school on HCM2 makes disbursements to students from its own institutional funds, a Reimbursement Payment Request must be submitted for those funds to the USDOE. Therefore, EGCC has been required to credit student accounts using institutional resources and then await USDOE's review of individual student aid files prior to its reimbursement of federal financial aid. This time-consuming process, coupled with EGCC's continuous need to strengthen, refine, and restructure their internal financial aid processes and procedures, have led to recurring cash flow challenges.