Every year, university administration takes on the challenge of constructing a budget that will keep Kent State financially afloat and prosperous.
The university uses a balanced budget where projected revenues must equal projected expenses. While it’s possible to have projected deficits, Mark Polatajko, senior vice president of finance and administration, believes that’s the wrong approach to have.
“You’re going to end up running out of money,” he said. “If you don’t balance your checking account and you have to tap into your savings, eventually, you’ll have nothing left.”
Polatajko said enrollment is a driving factor in creating the budget. State funding for Ohio universities depends on performance (degree and course completions), so increases in enrollment result in state funding increases. Currently, Kent State has been losing funding to bigger schools such as Ohio State and Cincinnati, but it has also outpaced several other schools regarding enrollment.
“Akron, Cleveland State, Youngstown State and Toledo are dropping off and going down in enrollment,” Polatajko said. “We’re holding and going up … gradually over time we’ll start to get more [funding].”
Tuition is another major factor, according to Polatajko. He said tuition and fees is one of the highest sources of university revenue, and that tuition costs for undergraduate students are decided and capped by the governor’s office and the Ohio General Assembly in the state budget. This occurs every two years, and a student’s tuition is constant once enrolled.
“We can only increase tuition to the incoming freshman cohort,” Polatajko said. “What we charge them will be the same thing for their four years here.”
Other important elements of the budget include campus auxiliaries such as residence halls, scholarships and grants and labor and resources, according to Polatajko.
The 2026 fiscal year budget is currently in the early stages, but Polatajko said there are already some promising signs, as enrollment and auxiliaries like housing and dining plans are trending well. As for the current 2025 fiscal year budget, Polatajko said it’s in “really good shape,” but external elements like inflation and tariffs could cause things to change quickly.
“There’s a lot of things we don’t control that we have to deal with,” he said.
For fiscal year 2024, the university faced its first deficit in over 20 years by finishing $9.9 million under. This was in part due to the unforecasted high maintenance and repair expenses, college credit plus courses offering tuition discounts and high pharmaceutical expenses.
Although the administration could have settled with the deficit, it chose to take action and implement cost-saving measures, such as the hiring freeze, reduction of regional campus deans and the T28 plan. According to Polatajko, this has been a priority for administration long before the deficit, as the university has reduced expenses by $183 million since 2017.
“We need to be proactive and think about how we can enhance value and service while exploring innovative ways to reduce expenses so we can do more with less in terms of financial resources,” Polatajko said.
The university will have to wait until September to finalize the budget for the 2026 fiscal year, as it waits for the state to finish its budget process. Once that is complete, sometime in the summer, the administration will begin the final preparations for its own budget.
Polatajko said the university must be able to balance staying relevant and desirable for students while also exercising financial restraint for the present and future budgets.
“It’s an ongoing daily undertaking that we’re managing and navigating to a positive end,” he said.
John Engoglia is a beat reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
