Students React to Tuition Hike at Kent State

University officials announced today by 3.5 percent for the coming school year — the maximum increase allowed by the state.

The tuition increase means the cost for an Ohio resident to attend classes full time at Kent State will rise from $9,030 to $9,346, or $158 per semester from $4,515 to $4,673. The increase is for both graduate and undergraduate students across all eight campuses.

Students at Kent State had mixed reactions to the news today.

“It’s unfortunate that tuition goes up at all, however, we are at a time where education is changing a lot of federal funding for even public schools at the elementary and high school level,” said Patrick Fenner, a graduate student studying health and human services at Kent State. “There is a cost for education and sometimes it comes at an unfortunate time, but I understand that they do need to go up. Obviously I would prefer that it would not.”

Courtney Meadows, a junior human development and family studies major, was less accepting of the increase.

“I think there are a lot of students that are struggling, a lot of students that don’t have access to means to get that financial help,” she said. “I think that if they are going to bump up tuition, then they need to open up opportunities to find another way to find financial aid.

“This stresses me out a lot, because I am one of those students that struggles,” she said. “I don’t have people giving me money, but I know I need a degree to be successful.”

Benn Draher, a graduate student, saw the tuition increase as a Catch-22.

“I think tuition being raised is almost a Catch-22. In order to have a good job you need a degree," he said. "But in order to get a degree you need a good job to make some money to pay for the degree.

“I think it is unfortunate, but as you look around at the rest of the country and see what is going on, prices are rising," he said. "But it is becoming more difficult for a lot of students to go to school.”

The announcement comes one day after Ohio legislators approved the state’s next biennium budget, which is anticipated to cut state dollars to Kent State by $16 million for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Several of Ohio’s other public universities have already increased tuition in anticipation of the state budget, which called for a more than 10 percent overall drop in state support for higher education.

Trustees at Ohio State University voted Friday to increase tuition there by 3.3 percent for the coming semester. Ohio University officials raised tuition by 3.5 percent on the same day.

As part of the budget bill, legislators put a 3.5 percent cap on tuition increases.

University officials expect the tuition increase will rank Kent State’s rates in the middle of Ohio’s 14 public universities.

“Kent State is dedicated to ensuring student success and continues to be one of Ohio’s most affordable public universities,” Kent State President Lester Lefton said in prepared remarks this afternoon.

in state support since 2009, when Kent State administrators started a number of programs to cut costs and save money.

The university streamlined its admissions, financial aid and billing departments, started an early retirement program, initiated for "non-mission critical" positions, and officials are planning internal budget cuts at the different colleges and schools.

Deans of the different colleges have created their own savings in recent years, as the university has done, to try and counter anticipated state cuts.

In addition, course sections have been reduced, employees' overall contribution rate to group medical premiums rose by 2 percent for 2011 to 13.74 percent, and an independent internal audit created almost $900,000 in savings.

On June 2, the university’s board the trustees authorized Lefton, Jacqueline Woods, chair of the trustee board, and Patrick Mullin, the chair of the board's finance committee, to set tuition and other student fees within the guidelines approved in the final budget bill.

In a statement, Woods thanked Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Ohio Chancellor Jim Petro and Ohio’s legislators for continuing to support higher education.

“Kent State is working diligently to deliver high value to our students, to the state and to the communities we serve,” Woods said.