No decision rendered on in-state undergraduate tuition rate

With the strong support of Kent State University President Beverly Warren, who throughout her first year in office has encouraged undergraduate students to enroll in at least 15 credit hours per semester in order to reap the personal, professional and financial benefits of graduating in four years, the Kent State Board of Trustees on June 4 eliminated the additional per-credit-hour fee charged to students who enroll in 17 and 18 credit hours per semester. The Board also increased the full-time fee plateau for Kent Campus undergraduate students from the current range of 11-16 hours to 12-18 hours. The result is that, effective Fall Semester 2015, Kent Campus undergraduate students will pay an additional fee only if they enroll in 19 or more credit hours.

The tuition plateau was established in fall 2012 to help pay for capital improvements. Trustees say that the $3.1 million that will be lost through the elimination of the additional fee for 17 and 18 credit hours will be offset by cost-cutting measures that will be developed during the coming months.

Because the state budget is still under development by the Ohio General Assembly, the Board is deferring a decision on undergraduate tuition for in-state students, which is currently $5,006 per semester. The Board will make a final decision about tuition once the state budget is finalized.

Effective Fall Semester 2015, the Board increased the basic tuition rate for graduate students by 2 percent (from $5,326 per semester to $5,432 per semester); increased the undergraduate tuition surcharge for undergraduate students who are not Ohio residents by 3 percent (from $3,980 to $4,100); and increased the rates for fully online courses offered at the university’s seven Regional Campuses, equalizing the fee charged for online courses, regardless of which campus offers the course. This does not affect courses offered exclusively in the Associate of Applied Science, Associate of Technical Studies or Associate of Applied Business programs. The Board also increased just a few special fees for selected programs and courses. For example, increases from 1.5 percent to 5.1 percent were approved for 10 courses in Kent State’s nationally respected and costly-to-operate flight-training program for flight instruction; a $200 increase was approved to both cover the costs of a field trip to New York City for students in the School of Theatre and Dance and maximize discounts possible through group purchases; and the application fee for students who wish to study abroad was increased from $30 to $60.

Board Approves Continuation Budget for FY 2016 Pending Finalization of State Budget

With the Ohio Legislature’s deliberations about the state budget bill (House Bill 64) for the next biennium still underway, the Kent State Board of Trustees authorized Warren and the university’s chief financial officer to spend university funds in fiscal year 2015-16 (July 1, 2015-June 30, 2016) at the same spending levels authorized by the Board for fiscal year 2014-15. Once the state budget is finalized, a complete operating budget for fiscal year 2015-16 will be prepared and submitted to the Board for approval.

Analyze This: Kent State Creates Degree in Analytics, One of Nation’s Fastest-Growing Fields

The Kent State Board of Trustees established the Business Analytics major within the Master of Science degree, effective fall 2016 and pending approval of the Ohio Board of Regents and the Higher Learning Commission. Analytics is the science of turning data into meaningful information that businesses can use to gain a competitive advantage.

Demand for business analytics expertise now transcends all areas of business and, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2022 projections, data analytics is among the nation’s fastest-growing occupations. The proposed graduate-degree program, which was developed with strong support from industries across Northeast Ohio, will be housed in the Department of Management and Information Systems in Kent State’s College of Business Administration. It will educate students to become cross-functional decision makers at multiple levels of an organization’s complex, data-driven decision-making process.

Board Accepts Fact-Finder Report on Collective-Bargaining Agreement with AFSCME Local 153

The Kent State Board of Trustees on June 4 voted to accept the report of a fact-finder appointed by the State Employment Relations Board to make recommendations regarding all unresolved issues between the university and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 153 in their negotiations to reach a collective-bargaining agreement. AFSCME represents about 384 employees in the bargaining unit, covering classified positions of food-service workers, cooks, maintenance workers, skilled trades and similar classifications.

The previous agreement between the university and AFSCME expired Sept. 30, 2014, and the parties initially met in July 2014 to negotiate a successor agreement. Fact-finder hearings about unresolved issues were held this year on March 4 and 6, and on April 29. Fact-finder James Mancini issued his report and recommendations, which address wages, medical-insurance premiums, an insurance reopener and other issues, on May 29, 2015.

In accordance with state law, the union membership and the Board of Trustees each have seven days from the report issuance date to act on the report.

To read more about these and other Board actions, visit www.kent.edu/kent/news/kent-state-encourages-timely-graduation-eliminating-additional-fee-17th-and-18th-credit.