Ohio auditor seeking info on potential fraud at Eastern Gateway Community College
The Ohio Auditor's special investigations unit is asking those with information about potential fraud, waste and abuse of public resources at Eastern Gateway Community College to reach out.
Earlier this month, officials from the auditor's office, U.S. Secret Service agents, and state and local law enforcement officers conducted a search warrant at Eastern Gateway as part of an investigation into "matters of financial irregularities" at the college, Auditor Keith Faber said at the time.
Tipsters can contact SIU by email at SIUEGCC@ohioauditor.gov, through SIU’s webpage or by calling the Auditor of State’s Fraud Hotline at 866-FRAUD-OH. Information can be given confidentially.
Eastern Gateway, a two-year community college in Steubenville, has been in financial straits.
The college asked state lawmakers in December for a $12 million advance on state funds to help it meet payroll, which the state Controlling Board aprpoved.
The ask comes after Eastern Gateway ended a popular program that provided free college for 20,000 students last year. The U.S. Department of Education had ordered the college to halt enrollment over a possible violation of federal law over how it pays for students to attend classes.
Eastern Gateway, established in 1968, serves students from Columbiana, Jefferson, Mahoning and Trumbull counties and has campuses in Steubenville and Youngstown.
Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.
shendrix@dispatch.com
@sheridan120
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio auditor seeking info on potential wrongdoing at Eastern Gateway
