The Kent State Board of Trustees set aside a 1 percent pool of the university budget to go toward salary raises for all university employees.

The 1 percent pool totals $2.1 million, which will be distributed to unrepresented classified staff, unclassified staff, tenure-track faculty and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees workers.

Provost Robert Frank said this amount is lower than the university has put toward pay raises in past years.

“Historically, Kent State has had bigger pay raises,” Frank said. “This is a challenging time for the university, and everyone always wants to make more money.”

Frank said the university lost 13.1 percent of the money from the State Share of Instruction last year.

Sue Averill, associate provost, said this pool would not affect the raises ensured for non-tenure track faculty members.

“Their 2 percent raise is already decided for them,” Averill said. “But this is the last year of their contracts, and we will bargain with them again in the summer.”

Kathy Basista, administrative secretary at Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, said she is grateful for any kind of raise this academic year.

“I am very grateful just to have a job in this economy,” Basista said. “I know some people said they are disappointed about this, but just having a job is enough to make me content.”

Frank said President Lester Lefton will decide when to make the final decision on how to allocate the 1 percent in the future.

Contact Megan Wilkinson at [email protected].