Eastern Gateway to close Warren location

By Justin Wier

jwier@vindy.com

WARREN

Eastern Gateway Community College will no longer offer classes at its Warren Center location after the semester ends next Friday.

Enrollment has declined at the Warren location, and President Jimmie Bruce said the decision to close was due to financial concerns.

“We have decided that we want to put our resources into strengthening our Youngstown campus,” Bruce said.

Students currently attending the Warren location will have several options going forward. Bruce said EGCC will offer a limited number of summer courses at Warren G. Harding High School, and students can take classes online as well. They also will be able to attend the Valley Center location in Youngstown.

“We are not going to walk away and leave students hanging,” Bruce said. “We will find a solution for them.”

Bruce praised the working relationship the college had with the people of Warren. The college will continue to do working studies, and he said it may consider having another physical location in the future.

“Right now, it just doesn’t make sense for us,” he said.

He added that the college was anticipating more students this fall at its Youngstown location regardless of what it decided to do in Warren. He said enrollment at the Youngstown location saw a small increase in the spring. The college’s total enrollment is about 6,000 students.

Eastern Gateway’s main campus is in Steubenville. In February, Bruce told The Vindicator he had plans to make the Youngstown location a branch campus pending an evaluation by the Higher Learning Commission. He said the university already was searching for someone to serve as dean for the Youngstown location.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg visited Eastern Gateway’s welding and machining labs at Choffin Career and Technical Center in Youngstown last Friday. The college also has partnered with the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition and Youngstown State University to bolster its presence in the region.