Vice President of Administration David Creamer announced a proposed 6 percent increase in tuition for next fall at a meeting with Undergraduate Student Senate yesterday.

In a draft document that will be presented to the Board of Trustees May 26, tuition per semester for a full-time Kent campus undergraduate will increase to a proposed amount of $3,977 — $225 higher than the current $3,752 rate.

Creamer cited a flat rate of state support for higher education this year as cause for the tuition increase.

“The reality is there’s no new state support,” he said, and the additional tuition revenue will pick up “what state support hasn’t provided.”

Creamer expects students to raise concerns about the increases, saying this specific increase in tuition is not as troubling as the pattern of rising tuition over recent years.

“This is not the kind of news I like delivering and not the kind you like to receive,” Creamer told student senate. “We recognize that this is becoming more difficult for you.”

Student fees, or money paid by full-time students for activities such as athletics and student organizations, also will see an increase of $31.75 under Creamer’s proposal. Currently students pay $654.25 in student fees.

Despite rising tuition costs, Creamer said, Kent State will remain situated as the seventh most costly public university in the state.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s too commonplace that tuition increases and state support continues to decrease,” said William Ross, executive director of Undergraduate Student Senate. “It just goes to show that the overall support for higher education from the public has dwindled. I do find it important that we are seventh in the state, but it’s still draining and taxing on the student.”

Creamer also said increases in tuition are at a point where they affect student enrollment and retention, but ultimately raising tuition was a necessary step to ensure quality in lieu of less state support.

“The reality is, there is a point where I do believe it begins to influence students’ decisions to enroll,” he said.

Contact administration reporter Ryan Loew at [email protected].