The Kent State Board of Trustees approved tuition increases at all campuses to battle decreasing state funding and increasing costs at its meeting May 24.

Starting this fall, tuition for Kent campus undergraduate and graduate students, as well as regional students in upper-division courses, will increase 6 percent. The tuition for regional students in lower-division courses will increase 4 percent.

The surcharge for out-of-state undergraduates will not change, said David Creamer, vice president for administration.

The increase of $238 per semester means that full-time Kent campus undergraduate students will pay $4,215 per semester. This increase will place Kent State eighth on the list of Ohio’s 11 public universities for total cost of attendance, including tuition, room and board, the board said.

Despite the tuition hike, the university’s tuition has increased at a slower rate than most other Ohio public universities, according to a press release.

“(We tried) to make sure there wasn’t a negative impact on the quality of the education,” said Creamer, who made financial recommendations to the board before it ratified the increase.

“We did this in a two-year approach,” he said. “We did make certain budget cuts at the outset last year. We made cuts totaling almost $5 million in the prior year.”

Creamer said the university was able to shift some of the saved money to other causes, such as enrollment growth, energy conservation, salary increases and student scholarships.

Students may have a different view of the increases than administrators.

“I think it’s really bad for students who have to pay for themselves,” said sophomore nursing major Jessica Jenkins. “It won’t affect me. My parents did the Kent First program.”

The Kent First program covers tuition expenses through a one-time down payment followed by a series of consecutive monthly payments.

Sophomore nursing major Drew Linardi said his parents have used the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority to pay for his tuition.

“It builds over the course of the years. They started saving before I was born,” he said.

Both Jenkins and Linardi are Ohio residents.

Ray Campbell, a senior public communications major, has paid for college mostly through Ohio grants and student loans.

“It’s easier to put the burden on myself rather than my parents,” said Campbell, an Ohio resident.

“You kind of have to expect tuition increase through inflation,” he said. “That alone would explain it. Teachers who are getting their tenure and have been here for a while deserve to get raises.”

Campbell said he thinks the money should go back into the college for better teaching, maintenance and landscaping.

However, he said the increase would still affect him.

“It also could take away from book money and food money,” he said.

Contact general assignment reporter Dan Stroble at [email protected].