YSU wants to lead in community college proposal

YSU wants to lead in community college proposal

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University wants to be designated as the lead institution to develop and operate a local community college — until that college becomes a separate and independent institution.

The university has been working on a community college plan for the Mahoning Valley for the past 18 months but has had a somewhat difficult time getting the state to buy into the YSU vision of how it should be done.

The YSU Board of Trustees got a look at the latest version of the university’s plans Thursday.

Dr. Nathan Ritchey, charged with spearheading YSU’s community college plan, told the board the university is still looking at an integrated partnership model that will involve other institutions of higher learning as well as county governments and local career and technical centers.

The proposal calls for YSU to take the lead in developing and operating the Mahoning Valley Community College but also calls for the new school to become a free-standing entity by July 1, 2017.

Eric Fingerhut, Ohio’s chancellor of higher education, has seen an executive summary of YSU’s plan, and, although he hasn’t signed off on it, he told The Vindicator today that the proposal “brings us much closer to a conceptual agreement.”

For the complete story, see Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com.