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Video by Eric Ristow | TV2 News

Kent State University has approved plans to start drilling for oil and natural gas at 25 potential sites around the area. Some of the projected sites include the Kent State University airport and golf course.

Oil drilling on the Kent State campus is not new. The first phase of the plan started in 2006 with the creation of five oil rigs.

General Manager of Transportation Services Tom Clapper said that the first phase of the plan meant a significant amount of profit for the university.

“Of the five wells that we have drilled so far we estimated over 800 thousand dollars worth of revenue over a 12-year span,” Clapper said.

Clapper also said that the university has no financial risk in building the oil wells, because the developer pays for all of the costs and the university reaps a percentage of the profit.

“All of the development cost and risk fall on the developer. The university as a landholder has no financial risks or environmental risk,” Clapper said.

Vice President of Finance and Administration Gregg Floyd said that the more money brought in from drilling for oil and natural gas means less money students would be forced to pay for tuition.

“When dollars are brought to the campus from non-tuition sources, they have a way of cushioning the amount of money that’s needed from tuition,” Floyd said.