Gregory Jarvie, vice president of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, apologized to a crowd of about 30 students and faculty for leaving them with more questions than answers.

At the Undergraduate Student Government meeting Wednesday, Jarvie held a discussion about the health of higher education.

“Resources are drying up at the national level,” said Jarvie in reference to the possible National Pell Grant elimination, state subsidy cuts and banks falling out of the loan business.

Jarvie said only four states in the U.S. will be able to balance its budget without any cuts.

“This is not a Kent State issue; this is not a state-of-Ohio issue; this is a national issue,” Jarvie said.

Ohio’s state budget will be announced March 15. Ohio state schools will then learn if state subsidies will be cut, which could lead to an increase in tuition.

“(Kent State) could look very different,” Jarvie said.

Tiffany Lloyd, junior American Sign Language major, said she thought Jarvie’s discussion was informative.

“I thought it was really interesting because I didn’t really understand how severe the budget cuts are going to be or how much of an impact they’re going to have on the university,” Lloyd said.

The university will have to look at different services that may need to be cut, Jarvie said. He asked the students for their input on what they thought might be the first to go.

Students offered the ideas of parking services, sports or even employee pay cuts.

“I’m not here to say ye or nay to any of these things,” Jarvie said. “All I’m trying to do is put out there that we’ve got to think about these things.”

Jarvie also stressed to students the impact the cost of education could have on their lives.

“This not only affects you today, it affects you 18 to 20 years, 25 years when you guys have a family and your kids are ready to go to school,” Jarvie said. “We have to think about our future for our kids.”

Contact Caitlin Restelli at [email protected].