According to the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s preliminary headcount, Central State had 1,839 students enrolled in traditional classes, plus another 880 who were enrolled exclusively online, for a total of 2,719 this academic year. Compared to the 2021-2022 school year, when the university enrolled 6,044 students, student enrollment has fallen by more than half.
During a September board of trustees meeting, Elmore said the revenue projections were based on expected enrollment of 3,100 students — 381 more than actual enrollment.
But factors beyond lower enrollment were also likely playing a part in financial shortfalls, CSU officials said during a board of trustees meeting in early November. One example is a longstanding policy that students can be on a payment plan for the previous semester’s tuition if they owe less than $3,000 and sign up for classes for the next semester.
It’s far more common to require students pay in full before they sign up for classes the next semester.
Why did enrollment fall so far?
Central State was one of two Ohio higher education institutions that offered free college to certain students who qualified. The other college, Eastern Gateway Community College, closed in October due to financial irregularities.
Career Plus was a collaboration with several unions, including the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The program allowed students who were either union employees or the children of union employees to combine other aid with union money to pay the full cost of tuition.
The program was attractive to thousands of students. In the 2021-2022 school year, Central State enrolled 4,063 exclusively online students. In 2022-2023, it enrolled 3,633 students exclusively online. Last school year, 1,659 students were enrolled online, about double the 880 students enrolled this year.
However, the U.S. Department of Education said in a cease-and-desist letter to Eastern Gateway in 2022 that the program unlawfully charged students with Pell Grants more than students without Pell Grants. In response, Eastern Gateway sued, arguing the department had illegally pushed the college to shut down the program.
Central State in September 2022 terminated its agreement with a Rhode Island-based company called the Student Resource Center that helped run the program for at least at two Ohio higher education institutions, according to records obtained by the Dayton Daily News.
Central State ended its exclusively online program after the spring 2023 semester. After that, the new cost structure requires students who are Pell Grant-eligible to pay a $150 fee each semester. Students who are not Pell-eligible pay $250 per credit hour, up to $3,000 per semester. Pell Grants are federal funds given to poorer college students to help them pay for college.
The university said in a statement that the financial impact of closing the free program had a direct impact on the amount of government aid the institution gets and the amount of money the university can offer in aid to other students.
Amy Hobbs Harris, the university’s interim provost, said in a board of trustees presentation on Nov. 8 that the university has seen a 129% increase in the number of applications for next fall compared to this time last year.
“As we know, having traditional students on campus is the lifeblood of our university, and so increases in applications already just shows good signs regarding optimizing campus resources,” Hobbs Harris said.
Hobbs Harris said Central State is now on the Common App, which allows students to apply to multiple universities at once.
Hobbs Harris said a change to the software the university uses to enroll students will also likely result in an increase in enrollment for next year.
What’s next?
The university is under fiscal watch, which means increased monitoring from the state government and access to additional resources to help it climb out of the hole.
A university spokeswoman said there were three monthly payments the school could not make regularly. Those payments were for facilities management, from about $30,000 to $160,000 per month; student services, from about $18,000 to $150,000 per month; and systems management, from $25,000 to $73,000 per month.
President Morakinyo A.O. Kuti identified four key areas to work on: building bridges across stakeholders, empowering faculty and staff, prioritizing student success and optimizing campus resources.
Presentations during the meeting suggested the university was looking at cost-savings measures across the board, such as reevaluating faculty and staff positions and renegotiating contracts where possible.
The university has a hiring freeze in place until next summer, and several positions have been combined, according to university officials.
Kuti said the university is also looking at increasing workforce development programs, something the governor’s office suggested when they met. But the university is also working to raise funds, he said.
“When we were talking to the governor, they said one of the things that sets schools that are resilient in this time of challenge is what kind of endowment do you have,” Kuti said.
About the Author
