YSU joins Ohio colleges to aid students with ‘stranded credits’ | News, Sports, Jobs

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University has become part of a pilot initiative with seven other regional universities and community colleges to help students with unsettled debt re-enroll to finish their education.

The program’s primary focus is on addressing “stranded credits” which are those that students have earned yet are unable to access because their transcripts from their former college or university are being held because of unpaid debts.

YSU has joined the University of Akron, Lorain County Community College, Kent State University, Cuyahoga Community College, Stark State College, Cleveland State University and Lakeland Community College to take part in the effort, which could begin outreach by the spring 2022 semester and allow students to re-enroll starting in fall 2022.

“This is yet another way that YSU is working with our partner universities and community colleges throughout the region to assist students to finish their studies,” Jeanne Herman, YSU registrar, said in a statement.

Along those lines, the university is developing a “College Comeback” program aimed at settling debt of former YSU students who wish to re-enroll, Herman noted.

The other seven partners may have their versions of individual programs similar to the “College Comeback” effort, tailored to their students’ specific needs, that are under the umbrella of the larger initiative, which also can be a tool to forgive outstanding debt, she explained.

“It’s a barrier,” Herman said about accumulated debt preventing students from moving forward academically. “We’re trying to make it more relative to help them come back to school.”

In addition to assisting them with overcoming debt, the initiative also can help students find the right career paths via offering a clearer roadmap regarding which classes they need to finish their degrees. Such guidance can save them added expenses they would incur by getting off track by taking unnecessary coursework, Herman continued.

She and Sue Ewing, YSU bursar, are part of a team spearheading the overall project.

An estimated 60,000 students in northeast Ohio have stranded credits, according to Ithaka S+R, a nonprofit organization committed to helping academic and cultural communities better navigate demographic, economic and technological change. The impetus is to broaden access to higher education via improving student outcomes and reducing costs, its website states.

Accumulating stranded credits associated with student debt is a “lose-lose-lose proposition,” because those affected can’t confirm their credentials when entering the job market or transfer credits to further their education, Martin Kurzweil, director of Ithaka S+R’s Educational Transformation Program, noted.

In addition, such students often shoulder the burden of debt collection, Kurzweil said. Nevertheless, universities and communities also are adversely affected, he continued.

“Institutions (of higher learning) lose because they typically only recoup pennies on the dollar when balances are sent to collections, and many students give up on furthering their education, reducing enrollments,” Kurzweil explained. “And our communities lose, because these administrative impediments stifle adult education and training to fill in-demand jobs, which hinders economic development.”

Kurzweil estimated that 6.6 million students in the U.S. have stranded credits and collectively owe about $15.4 billion, with average balances between $631 and $4,400 per student.