Eastern Gateway Community College has reached an as of yet undisclosed settlement with the Department of Education in a federal civil suit filed in September of 2022.

According to a court filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Gateway has voluntarily dismissed their lawsuit after coming to a tentative settlement agreement.

In the lawsuit filed early September last year, EGCC claims that the Department of Education did "irreparable harm" to the school, and to approximately 30,000 students enrolled in the program. 

The lawsuit stated that the DOE's actions against the school "threatens its continued operations as a community college."

In July of 2022, the DOE ordered EGCC to stop dispersing Federal Pell Grant money to any new students enrolling in the Free College Benefit Program until it was redesigned.

The DOE determined EGCC was waiving tuition and fees for students in excess of Title IV funds. For students not receiving Title IV funds, the entire tuition and fees were waived. They say that resulted in Title IV students being charged for their education and non-Title IV students not being charged, which violates Title IV requirements.

EGCC disagreed with that analysis and believes the program is fully compliant with federal law but still suspended the program on July 27th to restructure it.

It is unknown at this time what settlement the two parties have reached, or how it may affect students.